Grieving, Day 23: Our Bloody Economy

I was listening to a podcast today where an ex-soldier was being interviewed. He served in Iraq for 4 years. He talked about how when he was there he started wrestling with the contradiction of his Christian faith versus his duty to try to kill other human beings. He came home from the war and was lucky to have never actually killed anyone. He did see others die and be wounded.

Now this soldier is concerned with the every day violence that supports our country and our economy. He's concerned about where oil (Iraq war) and tomatoes (modern day slavery in Florida) come from. He talked about how obvious it is to the rest of the world that the US is dangerous and empirical. We tout ourselves as the great democracy bringers, but we are the only country that has ever nuked another country.

I've been thinking about animals lately. About where beef comes from, about the Indonesian rainforests (home to Orangutans who have the second longest childhood (8 years) of any animal after humans) that are being destroyed and replanted with the monocultural disaster that is a palm oil plantation.

I'm thinking about these things and I'm scared to go deeper, scared to know just how bloody my own hands are.

But maybe I'll find some hope too? Something that I can do (or not do).

A way out.