They're Wrong, But Good For Them

OK, so there's an organization, Veterans for Peace, that is running around telling their stories to school kids to try to open their eyes about war. Now this, of course, gets the anti-hippie crowd up in arms (especially once they see the picture of the guy in the hippie shirt). But are these guys really doing something evil?

I'll give you that they should not be in preaching to middle schoolers. That's a little too young to be hitting kids with nuanced arguments about when killing might or might not be appropriate. But is it a bad thing for high school kids - or college students - to get exposed to ideas that may be different than their own beliefs?

I do not agree with their message, beyond the simplistic statement that war is bad. It is a bad thing. But sometimes, a bad thing is better than a worse thing. You might even be able to convince me that there have been times that we've gone to war unnecessarily. But that doesn't change the fact that sometimes war, death and destruction are needed to maintain order. It's an unfortunate, but undeniable, fact of life.

All that being said, I'm glad that these two are out there challenging kids to think before enlisting. The true strength of our military lies not in superior weaponry, but in a superior conviction in the good intentions of our action (Yeah, yeah, I know the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. You know what I meant.). These two act almost as a filter to weed out the kids lacking that conviction. And in the long run, that can only help the effectiveness of the military.

By telling their stories these two will challenge the convictions of the students. Those who have strong, defensible convictions will withstand the challenge. Those who don't will have to reconsider and reform their positions. That process of critical thinking cannot be bad for the kids.

It's kind of ironic that the anti-warriors may in fact be strengthening our military simply helping to provide the service with kids that are able to absorb, comprehend, and critically analyze information better.

But the purpose of VFP, he adds, is that "we have a responsibility to make sure young people hear both sides of the story."

So long as they hear both sides of the story, it's fine by me.