There are no words

I have seen some images of the people gassed in Syria. It is just horrible.Why it should be more horrible to see these people dead, with no bullet holes or knife wounds, than if they were wounded- I don't know why, but somehow it is more horrible. Perhaps in my mind I imagine that a bullet could miss you, you could hide, etc. With gas, there is no hiding, no survivors. Neither skill nor luck will save you if you don't have a gas mask on. And these bodies are not sleeping.

I am constantly amazed at the ability of human beings to treat each other badly. I work in healthcare. I am a healer. Even when I was manic, I was angry and violent towards things- but never violent towards people. I still had that part of me intact.

I can't even watch boxing, now that I have treated so many patients with brain injuries. It hurts just to watch it, knowing what could be happening to the brain.

But what do we do about Syria? I have no clue. I am so glad not to be the president. Who would want that job?

Letting the regime use chemical weapons against civilians and get away with it sets a really bad precedent. And yet, who are we to interfere? Can we really fix the situation?

In today's world, I think that wars can no longer be won because the world community will no longer tolerate the level of violence it takes to win a war. It takes a lot of violence to win a war, especially to do so decisively, so it doesn't drag on into civil war for decades.

Imagine if, when America declared independence and skirmishes first started, the UN existed. They would have jumped in, put in UN observers, and told us to stop fighting and to agree to a brokered treaty for free elections on limited self-rule, with UN peacekeeping troops to keep the peace. We would have become another Ireland.

The only good thing about violence is when it can resolve something, one way or another. The Civil War- ended, and we remained 1 country with all slaves freed. That takes decisive violence. Increasingly, we just see this sustained, simmering, low-level violence that does not decide anything, just keeps the issue from going away. And the violence doesn't go away.

I'm sure that whatever we do, it isn't going to be decisive. It isn't going to be the kind of violence that ends violence. At best, it will perhaps end the gas attacks, at least for a while. But there are other ways to kill people, and the regime will continue to use them.