"Blessed are the Peacemakers" A Message for Jews & Christians from M.J Rosenberg!

(A Passover/Easter post for those who are PEACEMAKERS AMONGST US!) Shalom and Peace to my fellow DU'ers here in the "I/P Dungeon." :hug:
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On Pelosi: "Blessed are the Peacemakers" (comment by M.J. Rosenberg)

Edited on Fri Apr-06-07 05:43 PM by KoKo01
On Pelosi: Blessed Are The Peacemakers
mjRosenberg

You know what they say: no good deed goes unpunished.

That is certainly the case with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her visit to Syria.

At a time (the Easter-Passover recess) when dozens of House members and Senators are visiting foreign capitals and discussing policy with foreign leaders, Pelosi is being skewered for, in the words of the Washington Post's editors, "substituting her own foreign policy for that of a sitting Republican President."

-snip-

Pelosi's visit strengthened America's position in the region, and likely helped Israel on prisoners, on Hezbollah, and in its effort to avoid another war like last summer's. It was a gutsy move by the new Speaker and one that deserves commendation, not criticism from those who are committed to the whole litany of failed policies of recent years. One would think that some of these pundits and others would look at the sheer carnage they delivered in Iraq – the 3200 American dead and the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians -- and be shamed into shutting up. But no such luck.

-snip-

In this context, and on this Good Friday, it is worth recalling Jesus' words in Matthew 5, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God." That is not exactly what the critics are calling Pelosi. But, the New Testament notwithstanding, peacemakers are rarely praised in their own time while the initiators of unnecessary wars are rarely, if ever, held accountable for them. Pelosi is too smart to expect plaudits for trying to deter war rather than simply cheerleading for a status quo that will inevitably produce the next one.

-snip-

I hope Pelosi is not daunted by the criticism emanating from all the usual suspects. Her delegation's visit to the Middle East advanced America's interests, and Israel's too. As they like to say in that region: the dogs bark but the caravan moves on.

http://tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/apr/06/on_pelo...

We are so in need of good will, each and all.

Otherwise we'd all be forced to say that FDR was condemned by Jesus as evil, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths; after all, he didn't make peace with Japan or Germany, and war could have been averted by merely turning the other cheek.

Lincoln was also hell-bent, it seems; insteading of blessing those who reviled him, he sent Sherman to burn their fields and destroy their infrastructure.

And Washington ... instead of returning good for bad, and praying for those that oppressed him, he decided to fight and *kill* those who oppressed him.

Again, it's a damned good thing for the US that FDR, Lincoln, and Washington did *not* live by every word of Jesus.