ALICE reminded me of the Duck and Cover drills, we did when we were kids. We would climb under our desks and cover our heads to protect us from - wait for it - a nuclear blast!
I remember clearly when Daddy was a chaplain at Fort Benning, GA, practicing the drills over and over in school, especially during and after the Cuban missile crisis. Like ALICE, Duck and Cover was a stupid way of dealing with very, very serious problems.
On the 12th of June, 1982, Sarah, Tiff, Jessica, Mike and I went to New York City along with a million others to protest the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Since the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, many stopped thinking about the horrors of the nuclear weapons and frankly, so had I.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, currently nine nations* possess 16,300 nuclear bombs. Only 100 small bombs would cause a nuclear winter that can end life as we know it. A massive volcano can spew ash and cause a winter of little sunlight, devastating droughts and cold temperatures but its ash would last in the atmosphere about a year. 100 nuclear bombs would cause even more serious damage and would last ten years!
Climate change predictions are frightening and horrifying but nuclear weapons? They are even more terrifying and, unlike climate change, there is no denying it...we all know they are sitting there just waiting.
If we believe in family values, this is unacceptable...completely unacceptable.
There is such disconnect in our society. A family member, who was a strong opponent of abortions and called himself a Right to Life advocate, also worked for Strategic Air Command. In other words he kept the plane going in order to launch a nuclear attack if need be. I asked him once if he ever thought of all the unborn babies that would die if a nuclear bomb was dropped (not to mention all God's creatures).
We always hear about the deterrent of mutually assured destruction and how such-and-such nation should not have nuclear capabilities; but, the reality is that nuclear weapons have only been used twice as weapons, both times by the United States, killing 135,000 people.
Sure, we all have heard the arguments that those bombs stopped WWII, "saved lives" and were "a necessary evil" , but there is also evidence that the war was ending, the bombs didn't save lives, and were unnecessary. BUT necessary or not, dropping atomic bombs was...and is...evil.
Keeping these weapons of mass destruction (so nicely referred to as "WMDs") is insane. Having these weapons means we or someone are willing to use them. Having them means they can be stolen. Having them also costs lots and lots of money to try and keep them "safe"...so "we never have to use them."
Why do we move forth on this path of death? Why do we not try to protect our families... truly and honestly? Where are the so-called common sense people? And why do we let people who fight against nuclear disarmament call themselves "family value" people...They. Are. Not.*The United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Nine nations hold the life of the planet and little nations like Nicaragua in their blasting hands.
-Kathleen
