Lois Hart responds to Bhutto Assasination

In this, our first "guest editorial", WNPJ member Lois Hart of Watertown, South Dakota responds to the news of the assasination of Benazir Bhutto:

A family group was sitting around a table in Madison, watching the news as government officials and Presidential hopefuls responded to the death of Benazir Bhutto. We groaned as Mike Huckabee suggested we’d better close the border to hordes of Pakistanis entering our country. We weren’t impressed with Mitt Romney’s admonition to “restore stability” – without any suggestion of “how.” President Bush’s insistence that the January 8 elections must go forward – even if Bhutto’s party has no time to find a candidate – wasn’t what we were waiting for. Even Hillary Clinton’s memory of having
spoken with Bhutto didn’t address the basic issues.

But then came the challenge: “What would YOU have said if CNN called you for a response?” What can we learn from this death? What does it mean? How can we prevent such killings in the future?

As I tried to frame my answer, I realized that I don’t know enough to talk about Bhutto herself or to speculate about who wanted her dead and why. I know very little about Pakistan. Is Three Cups of Tea the only book I’ve read about the lives of people there?

But I do know that we live in a violent and hate-filled world. I know that it’s easy to condemn the violence used by terrorists and “militants” while excusing our own. I know we need new directions.

I see this image of brush fires breaking out in dry tinder – one here, then one there. We watch bombs fall on Lebanon – or clashes between Israelis and Palestinians – or angry crowds in Iran – or American soldiers kicking in doors in Iraq, with guns drawn on the terrified family huddled inside. In these moments of crisis we try to stomp out the flames and keep the blaze from spreading. But the damage is already done. Can we, instead, clear out some of the hate-filled undergrowth where the fires begin and smolder?

In a world of comfortable homes and nutritious meals, of good schools and medical care, of meaningful work and healthy neighborhoods, the brush-fires will be fewer. To create this safer world, we need to share our resources with others – and examine our own reliance on violence. We cannot stop the killing of Bhutto. It has already happened. What we CAN do is keep working to create a more peaceful world – and try to prevent the next assassination.

Lois Hart, Watertown, South Dakota
loishart@wat.midco.net January 1, 2008