Every time I start to respond to all this hawk-hockey, I just back away and leave for I know that all the reason and logic on this planet cannot sway one person from lifelong prejudices. Bennett was so right in saying to invoke that Golden Rule. Whatever your religious beliefs, if you look at the teachings of the ancients, that is the foundation. Boils down to a simple word, Love.

Love cannot be learned from argument, debate or sermon. It must come from deep within the soul. It includes respect for all of creation. It includes empathy for the worm on the hook or the fawn convulsing with gunshot wounds in the pasture or the immigrant crossing into a new hope for feeding his family or a young man fighting for what he truly believed was justice. If you allow your heart to remained hardened by your lifetime experience and propaganda then you can never realize an all-encompassing Love.

I try. I must fight daily the urge to cheer when my country advances in the battlefield. I had to fight the contempt I felt for this guy joining up with the 'enemy' - I must remember, I could have been born in Afghanistan and been fighting for 'my country' from that side or I could have been zapped by zealotry into fighting for 'my god' - Love MUST overcome if society is to continue.

Justice AND Peace! -sc