Omens of War

It appears that the terrorist attacks on the nucleus of U.S. society is leading to a new war in the Middle East. President Bush has not only received promise of cooperation from NATO, but also has "the complete and total cooperation" of Afghanistan's neighbor, Pakistan. Another neighboring country, Iran, in order to obstruct an influx of refugees, has decided to close its borders. Omens of war are pronounced. This is extremely unfortunate for all mankind, but, with no credible mediator between the United States and the terrorists, the gap in their "world views" can probably only be filled with a "collision of hatred""

On an ABC TV broadcast this morning, children, six years old and older, were invited to the studio, along with their parents, and the newscaster asked their opinions on the recent incidents. One teenage girl asked, "There are people who hate the U.S. this much, so what exactly have we done to them?" To this, a teenage boy, about the same age, said something to the effect of , "Even if we did do something, it probably wasn't done intentionally, so the killing of so many innocent U.S. citizens is unforgivable." I cannot help but think that answering this question accurately holds "the key" to this situation. A tremendous gap in world view that has grown between people living in parts of the Middle East and people in developed nations, including Japan, is probably behind these horrible events.

However, "the first shot" has already been fired by one side. If it had been before this, there may have been hope of mending the relationship. It's difficult, after the massive killing of over 5,000 U.S. citizens, to say, "Don't retaliate." Moreover, considering the fact that "the first shot" ignored all international laws, and the unprecedented fact that it was done, not by a "nation", but a group of people full of hatred, many countries with similar groups must do something now or risk the possibility of facing the same problem of public order in their own countries. Therefore, it is probably impossible to stop military actions of retaliation.

Up until this point, this has been a discussion of "politics." Terrorism and war are clearly "darkness". In the Seicho-No-Ie teachings, it is said, "Dispel darkness with light"" In order to apply this, there may be some who say, "Even though the hijacked plane was crashed into a building, give only words of the Truth in return"" However, we also have studied the law of cause and effect, "Evil brings about evil". "Express words of the Truth because the hijacked plane was crashed" is not enough. It's because "expressing words of the Truth" has not been enough that the hijacked plane was crashed. In order to prevent hatred from spreading any further, it becomes increasingly critical to expedite the dissemination that "Man is a child of God", "We are all spiritual brothers and sisters".

- MT