[Peace-discuss] a small-scaled metaphor for Darfur

[Karen Medina]

This is my current feeling about the situation in Darfur.

A smaller scaled metaphor: 
Situation: Two people are fighting on the street. One person 
draws a gun. The other person has no gun. You just happen to 
have a gun. What do you do? 

A friend (1) says that he would walk away and let them settle 
it. I say to this first friend, what if the two people 
fighting are important to you? Does that change your answer? 
What if both were people you loved? Pretend like they are 
your children that you care for deeply. What do you do with 
the guns and the situation?

A friend (2) says that you throw the unarmed person a gun 
too. I say that this solution will end up with two dead 
bodies on the street. Or, for the least, one dead person that 
you care about, and the other person is now a murderer.

Another friend (3) says you pull your gun and step between 
the two people fighting. I say you are in no better 
situation. One person still has a gun and they are still 
trying to get to the other person. Plus, what if there were 
more than one person you are trying to defend, and these 
people are so spread out that you can not be in more than one 
place at a time and defend them against the person who wants 
to kill them?

Yet another friend (4) says: you put down your gun and you 
try to talk to the two people, mediate between them, find out 
what the problem is. I like this answer.

I care deeply for the people in Darfur. I do not want a 
military intervention.

-karen medina