September 2009

The new Hubble telescope has been sending awe inspiring pictures of space. Space is turbulent, complex, colorful, powerful, reminiscent of the bottom of the deepest oceans and yet vaster, more mysterious, more intricate inviting us to do more than gape or wonder. Pictures of space propel us to ask those questions for which there are yet no answers. Are we alone in the universe? Who are humans in this immense scheme? How do we and the planet really fit in? on an even deeper level those pictures so vivid, so compelling prompt us to ponder our relationship to our ultimate source, whether that source is called god or something else. And when we have pondered it all a while, some, like me perhaps, will be left with the notion that science is so often god’s best friend.

Whether or not to provide medical services to illegal immigrants has become a contentious political issue. But underneath isn’t it more than politics? Some may say it’s one of social justice, and it is that. But couldn’t it be an issue even more fundamental? Could it be a matter of compassion, or as some might prefer to call it love or even charity? If so, what would compassion/love/charity direct us to do if a pregnant mother from Mexico here without papers was in labor and had a problem delivery? Would it direct us to let her or the baby die? Would it guide us to give care to a young worker who looked he might have swine flu? How about an elderly person here for years whose illegal status managed to be undetected and who suddenly shows signs of a heart attack, how would compassion suggest we act, what course would it map out for us?

The U.S. entered into $37.8 billion worth of arms agreements in 2008. This, according to the Congressional Research Service, a division of the Library of Congress, represents 68.4 percent of all global arms business, and is up from the $25.4 billion the year before. Worldwide, however, probably due to the recession, arms sales declined. But the proportion of sales by the U.S. was particularly noticeable since the value of global sales for 2008 was $55.2 billion, actually a 7.6 percent decrease over 2007.
One can say the magnitude of the U.S. involvement, although a fraction of one percent of the GNP, involves a lot of jobs. In an economic downturn that is relevant. Besides we live in a world that uses arms, and therefore buys them. If the U.S. doesn’t sell them, then buyers will go somewhere else. Russia, for example, who just gave Venezuela a $2.2 billion line of credit for them to buy missiles, tanks and anti-rockets systems? Still what does such an involvement in arm sales say about our culture, our government, our values, our world? Ought it to occur with such little transparency and discussion? Does it advance us toward turning our swords into ploughshares, towards some sort of better way?