I watched the film Kingdom and it struck a chord with me. The premise is there is a massive suicide bomb attack on a US oil worker’s base and the FBI responds. We with an attitude of we will bring those responsible to justice and eye for an eye.

But the kid of the guy who set it up watches his execution at gunpoint by an FBI agent.

The closing scenes highlight the point, the 8-year-old child holds onto his grandfather who whispers into his ear ‘Kill them all.’

As the FBI response team got prepared to depart for Saudi where this all happen the operations chief whispered into the ears of one of his female colleagues who’d lost a partner in the attack and said ‘We will kill the all.’

It’s a gruesome view on the price of freedom from unwanted ways being imposed on you for sure and it would seem easier if the world wasn’t so crowded with opinions. But it is. So how do we get on in the end.

I hold a banner for tolerance.

Lone Survivor, is another flick which introduced me to another idea… Pustanwali.

The 2000 year old tradition in Afganastan that demands a person is defended in all his personal dignity by the might of the village is so invited. And it is an incredibly powerful tradition which has survived every cultural change and religion and government that’s passed over the land in time.

If your invited into their home as a guest… they will kill for you! Even against their own federal government for a foreigner.

An Afghan village one time took in a US Special forces trooper who shown mercy to their members during a war time situation. Tradition demanded his safety be assured and so the villagers put their life on the line against the Taliban to defend him.

One mans terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

If they’re not allowed to come disturb our daily lives of non-combatants, why are we different that we can do that to them with ‘collateral damage (aka murder). … Dropping bombs.