War and Its Fatal Side Effects

Scenario: Russia wants to overtake the country of Georgia, because they feel that they are still in charge of them. They feel the need to blow up the whole country, tearing apart all things – buildings, homes, families. The Pope — knowing that without some outside help the country will lose everything — writes a letter to the president of Russia, explaining how war will tear everything apart, including his own country. Through the discussion of families, government and peace, he gives many different options that avoid violence of any type.


January 21, 2010
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev
President of Russia
Gesundheit Road
Russia
Dear President Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev:

For these past seven days, I have been praying to the Lord about your recent announcement to invade the country of Georgia; I hope you have done the same. Talking with him has helped me to realize what effects of the war will have on the citizens and how much not only their faith, but also yours, will be challenged along the way. “Be content with what you have, for God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.’” (Hebrews 13:5,6) If you have faith in the Lord, your God, you will never need to fear the future. However, if you don’t heed his warnings, bad things will come upon you.

With this disastrous future ahead, I would like to remind you of eight of the most important statements in the Christian religion: the Beatitudes. By taking over their country, the people of Georgia will be torn apart from their families, confusing them and resulting in a lack of courage and hope. You will be the cause of this perplexity, but will show no mercy to these weak and helpless people – all you will be concerned about is yourself and your own gains and losses. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:5) In order to receive help and love from God, you must do your part and help out those in need. Invading these citizens and tearing families apart is not the part you are supposed to do, rather you should show these people your mercy and act with them in a peaceful way.

If you do not have enough faith in God to believe my words of wisdom, look at the country of Iraq as an example. This poor, feeble country has been invaded countless times, more and more often with every coming day. Looking at the civilians of this community, you will not see strong and heroic people, rather you will look upon a forlorn society, full of miserable a populace who have lost all hope. I, realizing that you want your citizens to be proud and happy followers of God, understand that you would not approve if the country of Georgia acted like Iraq once under your power.

With all these confusing and problematic situations, it will be almost impossible not to be destructive and sinful; this will result in you forgetting that these are sons and daughters of God, your own brothers and sisters. “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.” (I Corinthians 14:33) With power comes great responsibility, and you must be ready to face up to that. You are the president, and you have much of this power; at the moment you’re not responsible to overtake others, you are responsible to help the country you reign over. As you start to ponder over my advice, remember, you are a son of God, and in order to follow in his footsteps, you must write a book of peace, not the irony of confusion.

Sincerely,
Benedict Arnold XVI
Pope of the Catholic Church
Enclosure
Copyright © 1998 by Ann Poe


Relation to Farenheit 451: In the novel, Farenheit 451, there was a massive war going on; one so massive and scary that many people didn't feel the need to be updated about it every minute. In order to avoid this, they started disconnecting themselves from the world -- not unlike the way the people of Georgia did in my letter -- in order to avoid talking, listening or seeing anything that had to due with the destruction. To do this, they had many different options: putting their earphones in the ears, watching their T.V. in the parlor, not making contact with their families. All of these choices gave the people in Farenheit 451 a tragic ending since none of them knew what was coming. To the governments of enemy cities, this is amusing; to the citizens, humerous it is not, rather it's a hard and stressful time, one in which many of them would rather leave their families than go through it.