50,000+
I was thinking you know about the Christian thing, how it's not Darwinian that way, it's anti-Darwinian, it's about taking care of everybody - whoever's in need - no matter what. The predicate to that - that keeps getting censored - is living right. That the people doing the giving and making the decisions are supposed to be living right, so that their charity amplifies right-living among the unfortunate they help.
That gets left out - when we talk about the 6+ billion of us, and about running out of things and poisoning the environment and all - living right. 6+ billion people living the right way would be very different from this world as it is now.
But here we are. So Bush said something like "Whatever it takes" when they attacked Iraq. And he says it now. You know? "Whatever it takes" to do whatever it is they wanted to do there, but those American soldiers, who are actually there risking and losing their lives and limbs, would go willingly to the front lines of this disaster too, you know - and serve there until the job was done.
How much more grace there would be in this world!
That's what I was thinking, how proud they'd be to do that, and how proud Americans would be of them and of themselves, and how the rest of the world would look to us with admiration, for the strength of our compassion.
Instead the president has sent $100,000 to four of the hardest-hit nations. And promised more, possibly $50 million before he's all through signing checks.
As of this afternoon the death toll's up to around 50,000. So you can figure millions more are facing desperate times. Maybe a thousand or so for every fatality. Probably a lot more.
Works out to around a dollar per victim, doesn't it?
DOESN'T IT?
$50 million.
The US Marines spend that every 5 days in Iraq, $300 million dollars a month. Just the Marines. The Pentagon's spending $5.8 billion. A month. In Iraq. To kill people who don't want them there.
What would Jesus do, George? What he was told?
Or what most needs doing?
