Conscience or Obedience to Authority?
The other day I read in an Australian newspaper that when the bombing starts in Iraq, the Australian military will be allowed to disobey commands to fire upon civilians. They have been told to use their judgment and that they will not be punished for disobeying commands from American military leaders. This was an encouraging thing for me to read. I have often advocated the use of personal conscience over obedience to authority. Our conscience, I believe, comes from our inner most feelings. The closer we are allowed to stay to those feelings throughout our lives, from childhood on, the stronger the voice of our conscience.
To hear that compassion,
conscience and individual judgment would be placed above
obedience, even in the military where obedience is one of the
highest values, gave me some hope - a hope that perhaps one day
people will not be punished for refusing to fire upon any humans,
not just those that are labeled as "civilians." After
all, non-civilians have feelings too, not to mention their family
and loved ones who will all feel the pain should they be killed.
Maybe one day, in a more ideal world, the people of every country
will rise up in defiance of any leader who orders others to be
killed. Maybe they will remove that leader from power before
hundreds of thousands or even millions of people have been
killed. Which reminds me, I just met someone from Shanghai. He
told me the population of the region around the city was
approximately 30 million. Could the entire 30 million be killed
in a nuclear battle? I am afraid that it could be. If this were
to happen, how would the leader of China feel? How would the rest
of the world feel? Where will it all stop?
Maybe feelings will be valued in political and military decisions
one day. Or let me rephrase that. Maybe feelings besides fear
will be valued. Maybe one day political leaders will understand
the emotional consequences of their actions. Maybe one day they
will understand where hatred comes from.
Till then, those of us who do value feelings can do our small
part by continuing to speak out against the values, beliefs and
socialization processes which seem to be leading the world to
large scale death and destruction.
S. Hein,
Feb 21, 2003