--A quiet question about power and reason
Ideals that cannot be protected
will be taken away again and again.
The issue is not whether or not you have power.
It’s whether you can simultaneously have the resolve to protect them
and the rationality not to pull the trigger.
Many ideals have been spoken of in the past.
Peace, freedom, dignity, culture.
All of these were beautiful,
All of these were right.
And yet,
Time and again, these things were trampled upon,
Stolen away,
And disappeared into history.
Not because the ideals were wrong,
But because they were not upheld.
It wasn't the idea that was stolen.
When ideals crumble,
it’s not the words that break first.
What breaks is the will to uphold them.
Discussion is neglected,
promises are broken,
and in the end, the side that cannot keep their promises is chosen.
This is not an abstract concept.
It’s a reality that has been repeated many times throughout history.
The fate of a powerless community
Communities that had no means to defend themselves
always remained “on the side of talking about ideals.”
They did not attack.
They did not seek conflict.
That in itself was an admirable attitude.
However,
when they were unable to put their resolve to defend into concrete form,
that nobility was easily exploited.
Ideals were praised,
and reality was taken away.
Power is not the answer
Make no mistake here.
Power does not solve everything.
On the contrary,
power creates new dangers.
Fear, miscalculation, rampage.
Once used,
it can have irreversible consequences.
That is why
so many people have turned a blind eye to this question.
What is at stake is simultaneity
The real question
is not whether you have power or not.
Whether you can simultaneously possess the potential to have power
and the rationality not to use it.
It’s not enough to just be prepared to protect.
Ration alone is not enough.
It is extremely difficult to maintain both at the same time.
That is why
I have failed so many times before.
Peace cannot last by merely wishing for it.
Peace will not last simply by wishing for it.
But it cannot be protected by relying solely on force.
Peace is a state in which we continue to accept the heaviest responsibility.
If we continue to hold up ideals without understanding this,
we will end up repeating the same history once again.
This is not the answer
This article
does not present answers.
It is simply a record
to avoid avoiding questions.
If
we truly want to protect our ideals.
If
we don’t want to continue to be the ones who have our ideals stolen from us.
How far are we prepared to think?
I'll leave it here as a question
It’s easy to deny power.
It’s also easy to rely on power.
But is it possible to choose neither,
and to maintain both the resolve to protect and rationality
at the same time?
If we could do that,
what kind of people,
and what kind of community would that be?