When George Bush ordered up our armed forces, he initiated a chain-reaction of violence that has done great harm to tens of thousands, if not millions.
First of all, Bush allowed violence already done to dictate the means to be used.
Whatever the reason, whatever the justification, violence infects all of us with disvalues: inevitable loss of regard for the human. When violence is chosen, we are forced to give up some of our values, and the more violence escalates, the more is our moral compromise. Violence slowly but surely corrodes the moral character of persons and nations.
See William H. Shannon's Silent Lamp: The Thomas Merton Story, p. 243.
