War and Mercy In 2020

“The quality of mercy is not strained;

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown:

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God’s

When mercy seasons justice.”

--- Portia's Speech from The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I,

William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616

Suppose you wanted to stop war for just one year, say in the year 2020. You figure people might like peace for a  year so much they’ll want to make it permanent.  You figure, ‘what the hell…it’s worth a shot right? What do you think it would take to convince all the people of the earth to suspend war for just one year in 2020? Would it take little green men from Mars coming to earth brandishing a human death ray machine if we didn’t give up war during 2020?  Would it take God opening the sky walking down a golden staircase with a command written on a tablet (or iPad) threatening human extinction? Yeah. If you’re like me that’s exactly the kind of thing it would take to suspend the use of war in settling human disputes in the year 2020. The little red devil of my worst nature sitting on my left shoulder chortled loudly at my musing. 

“You idiot, you can always hire half the population of the Earth to kill the other half…humans are murderous animals.” The little white angel of my better nature disagreed. She thinks it’s perfectly feasible. “All you need to do is figure out the necessary conditions for a year of peace and start working on a plan. It’s just like anything else. You need a plan.”

I think I got one. There’s a global movement started by a friend and colleague called 2020 A Year Without War. In the course of discussing the viability of this movement with, Professor Joseph P. White the visionary founder, it occurred to me that the following necessary virtues would have to become globally pervasive during the next five years. Coincidently there are five virtues. Mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation, acceptance, and peace.

Mercy is necessary for forgiveness

Forgiveness is necessary for reconciliation

Reconciliation is necessary for acceptance

Acceptance is necessary for peace

Peace, therefore in the year 2020 begins with a year of mercy. If these inferences are not factually true….they should be.

Showing compassion to someone in our power to punish or harm is the preferred secular meaning of ‘mercy’. We look for mercy. We ask for mercy. We beg for mercy. Sometimes we may even receive mercy. From time to time we actually show a little mercy ourselves.  It happens in the pause between sentences. It’s our refuge and our hope. We remember it forever or regret its absence for life. That’s a lot of something for a reality that has no shape, color or atomic weight. Science would say therefore, it doesn’t exist. Science has nothing to do with it. Forgiveness, reconciliation, and acceptance may come later, but mercy is a virtue of character. Character is the modern word for ‘soul’.

But there are historical spiritual meanings of mercy practiced globally for centuries by millions of people. Just one such rendering is the Catholic Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. There are just seven in each category. AND, there are already global non-denominational and religious organizations that are seriously working to make these virtues pervasive. A link is provided for each virtue.

·Feed the hungry

·Give drink to the thirsty

·Clothe the naked

·Shelter the homeless

·Visit the sick

·Visit the imprisoned

·Bury the dead

Imagine if the practice of these corporal works of mercy were pervasive across every continent, culture and community. 2020 A Year Without War would be more attainable. Now add the seven Spiritual Works of Mercy.

• Admonish the wrongdoer
• Instruct the ignorant
•  Counsel the doubtful
• Comfort the sorrowful
• Bear wrongs patiently
• Forgive all injuries
• Pray for the living and the dead

Now imagine that both corporal and spiritual works of mercy were practiced pervasively around the globe. Would it be easier to imagine a year without war in 2020? Would even craven politicians campaign for it by popular demand? Would the youth of the world find their elusive meaning of life through practicing them? Would global tensions diminish through living them? An affirmative answer to each of these is not fundamentally unreasonable in our belief about them. The existential practice of these works of mercy is a necessary precursor to forgiveness, reconciliation, acceptance, and peace.

Many skeptical friends find it hard to believe that I’m committed to 2020 A Year Without War. They know me as a thinker skeptical about anything especially if it’s popular. They know that I teach my students to mercilessly find and examine their assumptions before presuming them in argumentation as critical thinkers and writers. They also know that I’m more than sympathetic to the little red devil on my shoulder always reminding me we are only recently from our turd fights in the trees. Certainly you, faithful reader of THE MEDDLESOME PRIEST, are quite familiar with my acerbic and ruthless debunk of any pie-in-the-sky academic pipe dream I spy. Nevertheless, skeptics forget that we are all believers in notions that not only can’t be proven but are also highly improbable to ever actually materialize.  No one leaves the bed in the morning without a syllabus of  the improbable.  Chief among these for me, is the probability that humans will evolve their consciousness beyond the need for war. I don’t believe it will happen. And that is precisely why I’m working toward it through 2020 A Year Without War.  Think about it. Then do something about it. In just those two steps, the world is already a better place…’as mercy seasons justice’.