War and Peace

December 10, 2009 By mario piperni

Barack Obama - Nobel Peace prize - War : http://mariopiperni.com/

The Nobel war peace acceptance speech…

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage.

[...]

But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by forty three other countries – including Norway – in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.

Still, we are at war, and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill. Some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the cost of armed conflict – filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other.

[...]

We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that – for that is the story of human progress; that is the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.

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Comments

Jovial says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:38 am

I couldn’t have said it any better. Peace on earth and good will to men is said often times at this time of year where we are near the birth of a special infant and the start of a new year.

May we never lose sight of peace and the unifying affects of it.
ME says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:42 am

Do not agree with Obama and his deep involvement in Afghanistan. Not a good thing. We will never be able to succeed there.

I hope someone realizes it before we have more of our kids murdered in this war.

Another Vietnam with major proportions. Our kids are going to return addicted to heroin. We currently have thousands of our vets returning from Iraq and are homeless. PTSD will do that to do and lack of work. We can add to that new soldiers hooked on heroin to the list. This is not going to be a good sight in America. Another post-Vietnam war crisis. And how we welcomed our soldiers back! That was another scandalous issue. Are we going to do the same with these new wars?
Frances says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:59 am

I hope everyone takes the time to read his entire speech. For me, this was a particularly moving passage:

“Somewhere today, in the here and now, in the world as it is, a soldier sees he’s outgunned, but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protester awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, scrapes together what few coins she has to send that child to school — because she believes that a cruel world still has a place for that child’s dreams.”