I am sure many of you will remember the famous anti-Vietnam song which was first sung by The Temptations.

Syria got me thinking about whether the song was correct in saying war is good for “absolutely nothing.”

It is maddening navigating with wisdom in a chaotic, confused, and fallen world.

No doubt there are issues of justice and charity to grapple with when it comes to grotesque events like the war in Syria, but what are we as Americans to do?

I am not so sure our overall philosophy (do we even have one?) of military might is the right one.  

I am not a full-blown pacifist, but I do think we get involved militarily in far too many wars.  Precious resources, most prominently human life, get squandered far too often.  

Perhaps a debate about our overall philosophy is due, an extended conversation where Americans from all parties meet at the table of ideas.  Naive I know to dream about such things, but anything shy of it seems to perpetuate the problem we regularly find ourselves in: a selective and inconsistent strategy that has us calling on the military when there are other non military options which should have been employed.

What do you think?