Quote:
Kevin Leavitt wrote:
For me it has not been hard to justify when you see the suffering and harm the folks I have dealt with cause in the world. I guess you have never seen a grown man beat the crap out of a little kid or women while other grown men stand by and watch. Also kinda changes your mind when you see a women walking around with no nose or ears too.
Never said that the my profession is noble, but unfortunately, it is necessary and I sleep well at night with no remorse with the thought that maybe I have helped the less fortunate have some hope for a better future. Actually now that I think about it, maybe it is noble.
As you earn your living on a computer some of which the parts are made from rare metals in some of these same countries think about the fact that in some way we are all hypocrites and not one of us has the abitliy or the right to take the morale high ground as our very lives are based on the suffering of others in some way.
Also, for those that pratice a "martial art" and profess the morale high ground...how do you get around the hypocracy of the fact that you are at the base level particpating in what is essentially refined and organized violence.
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It seems like we have shifted towards the specific situation of Afghanistan, unless I read something not intended into your comments.
I have never seen the horrors you describe. I do not know how I would react. I have no solution how to drag those that wish to live in the stone age into the present and 10 years later I see our dear leaders don't either.
To training and hypocrisy:
On my less idealistic days, I see Aikido as learning to converse in another language - physical confrontation being one form of (non-verbal) communication. It is uncomfortable to ignore reality and not be at least conversant.
On my more idealistic days, I see Aikido as a path to moving through space from stable configuration to configuration.
But I don't see it as a way to do violence to someone (at least that is not what I'm in for), though definitely that application exists. I never saw an aikido technique that couldn't be defeated by uke simply letting go or walking (not running) in another direction.
I wish you well, safety, and good judgement Kevin.
EDIT: I realized just now I missed a point that integrated circuits contain rare earth metals and these can come from stressed areas of the world. I have no issue labeling these items just like diamonds. It gets confusing though, once the raw materials are processed.