A Humorously Sad Example of Humanity’s Ability to Distort Basic Spiritual Messages — the United States Air Force’s Well-Intended, but “We Missed the Point” Distortion of Martin Luther King Junior’s Most Basic Message about Peacefulness

24 January 2013

Whether to laugh or cry?

From the Air Force Global Strike Command:

Dr. King would be proud to see our Global Strike team - comprised of Airmen, civilians and contractors from every race, creed, background and religion - standing side-by-side ensuring the most powerful weapons in the U.S. arsenal remain the credible bedrock of our national defense. . .

Our team must overlook our differences to ensure perfection as we maintain and operate our weapon systems. . .

Maintaining our commitment to our Global Strike team, our families and our nation is a fitting tribute to Dr. King as we celebrate his legacy.

“We” embraced diversity in our national effort to support our serial Commanders in Chief in waging Perpetual War on much of the rest of humanity. Give us a gold star.

Somehow, this well-intended Air Force publication misses Dr. King’s most essential point about love and pacifism.

Reverend King on war

In a 1967 speech opposing the Vietnam War, Dr. King said these (among other) things:

To me the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war.

Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them?

We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.

Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy's point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.

When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life.

Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.

Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation.

Love and peace are not exactly what the Global Strike Command stands for

My “laugh or cry” comment enters here.

One of the most difficult things for a warrior to do is to separate himself and herself from the single-minded self-righteousness of his cause. That is why Dr. King addressed the value of “the enemy’s point of view” and the value of universal love.

I suppose we can laugh at how easily a basic spiritual message can go astray, when in the hands of people who understand only part of its content.

And we can just as easily cry at the admirable goodwill that these laudable warriors intended to display — like metaphorical children who grasped some, but not all, of a teaching.

Not casting stones

I happen to agree with the Global Strike Command that pacifism is not good policy in international affairs.

But I join Dr. King in thinking that the United States more often than not resorts to deadly violence long before it should.

Consequently, were I currently an armed warrior, I would be more spiritually circumspect about that which I brag.

The moral? — Cloaking ourselves in misunderstood teachings is an easy and prideful mistake to make

Virtually all foundational spiritual teachings are paradoxical and complex in application.

Humility and silence are desirable accompaniments to poorly understood wisdom.

PeteFree.com

A Humorously Sad Example of Humanity’s Ability to Distort Basic Spiritual Messages — the United States Air Force’s Well-Intended, but “We Missed the Point” Distortion of Martin Luther King Junior’s Most Basic Message about Peacefulness