By Ron Faust

A familiar retort to justify war

Is to construct a hypothetical

By arguing how you would respond

To a bully who burst into your house

And demanded you give him your home

You might assess the situation

Comply, try to walk away

And call the police later

Or

Reverse the false construct

By asking what if the person was You?

You were the invader, you were the bully

You are the one perceived as the aggressor

The problem is that we only see ourselves

As the “good guys” with innumerable rights

To do whatever we want against bullies

Many are insensitive to the dark side

Of seeing ourselves as the cause of conflict

Of reversing the ”eye” to see our complicity

The other problem is we can’t see our hypocrisy

How we come across as aggressively superior

How we lie and deny our true intentions

Even how we represent a violent culture

If we were to reverse the pride of the ego

We would have to be really honest

Rather than trying to be something otherwise

The debate changes by reversing “I” to You.

12/5/22  (On occasion of justifying a Ukrainian war

 by reversal of a false hypothetical situation)