War.

War is never good.

I think very few people can deny that.

It destroys life,

snatching it swiftly away regardless of age, creed or class.

But what happens if we do not fight for justice?

What happens if we turn a blind eye to massacres, to genocide, to murder?

And how do we know when it is the right time to stand and fight?

I don't have the answer to any of the above questions.

I wish I did.

But I do think it is a bit overly-simple

to be against all wars,

a stance taken by many public figures in the 21st century.

Faramir is one of my all-time favorite characters in the LOTR trilogy

and this stance on war 

is exactly why: 

War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all;

But I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness,

nor the arrow for its swiftness,

nor the warrior for his glory,

I love only that which they defend.

Source: Donato Art

I think about this quote a lot these days
As I've been working with quite a few war veterans (WWII, Vietnam and Korea)
As we commemorate the victims of 9/11/01 today, 

as my church and my priests pray for Syria,

for its people,

Christian, Muslim and in between,

for their safety and protection from the harm and violence that rocks their country.

I guess this is the nature of living in a fallen world.
I really very strongly dislike Obama
{and pretty much any politician}
But I feel for him very keenly these days,
when he's been called to make an extremely tough decision
without the foresight to know whether it is right or not.

I think Bishop Basil of the Antiochian Archdiocese has the best perspective on this
{at least from the Christian slant.}
He spoke just a few days ago on the subject at a church in Kansas

In the mean time,
all we can do is pray.
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Europe in America

I found this BBC clip on the dying German dialect in Texas fascinating!

Greeks are not the only ones who cling to their roots. 

Did your parents teach you any languages or traditions from the Old World?

On Forgiveness

I don't post many religious or spiritual articles on here these days.

Mostly it's because those articles take a lot more time, thought and mental energy

than it takes to just stick a youtube video or playlist on there and call it a day.

And considering I am supposed to be studying for my Boards exams 12 hours a day,

just flinging a few links up here is a lot easier 

than organizing my thoughts into a blog post.

But when I read this article on the BBC this morning 

I felt kind of compelled to write something.

A long time ago,

Germany did some awful things.

Saying they killed a lot of people would be an understatement. 

The scars left all over Europe and the rest of the world were devastating.

Greece was far from unmarred by World War II.

In Crete the oldest surviving member of my family told us about her experiences,

How her brother was trapped in Athens,

starving to death as the Germans held the city captive.

By the time he made it back to Monastiraki it was too late; 

he passed away from hunger soon after his escape.

child receiving oxfam food handout in WWII. source. 

I won't go into the Cretan Resistance today, 

(I'd rather research the topic to do it justice)

but if you are interested this film is well worth seeing. 

Other stories from the village I was asked not to tell

as she explained to me that these bad memories should die with her

and that the wicked deeds of the German soldiers who invaded her tiny village should not be remembered.

This is an interesting perspective,

especially in a world where memorialism and historical documentation have become so acutely prominent.

I mean, we killed Osama

and then made a flick about it two weeks barely a year later. 

The Lifetime Jodi Arias story was well into filming before a verdict had even been made.

And I am not saying that we should forget atrocities

or shove them to the back of our collective consciousness; 

let's face it,
we need to be cognizant of our capability as a human race to do such evil things

in order to prevent them from happening again 

(looking at you, Turkish government.)

But forgiveness

that is something that we are far less eager to get behind.

probably because it's a lot harder to forgive

than it is to stay pissed off.

It happens to be something that I am particularly bad at.

My brain is grudge-city- 

if you look at me funny I immediately assume you hate me and think I am weird 

and are plotting horrible things against me behind my back- 

and of course these imagined acts of cruelty are unforgivable.

But that's not exactly how we are called to live as Christians, is it?

A lot of Greeks have brought up the past discretions of World War II

in defense of their country's current state,

and while I certainly don't think the Greek state 

is blameless in creating its huge economic problems

they do have a really solid point.

The debts of Germany were all forgiven after the war.

This is a big component of why Germany is such a financial superpower today.

So when Angela Merckel pressures the Greek government with strict sanctions

and the EU threatens to evict Greece 

I can't help but imagine the servant of Matthew 18: 21-35

who, upon being forgiven a great debt by his master,

throws his own debtor in prison for a few hundred denarii. 

You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?

Obviously,
this is a country we are talking about here, and not an individual.
I understand that the parallels aren't perfect-
and I'm certainly not out to solve the world's economic problems here.

I just think it's something to think about,

and considering my own track record on forgiveness

something I should probably reflect on more often.

Have a good week everyone.