Posting for Peace

[Glenda organized a July 4 Posting for Peace blogswarm; her post, with links to other participating blogs, is here.]

I don't know what peace looks like in Iraq. Yes, we need to bring the troops home; yes, we're exacerbating the conflict; but I don't think anyone believes our withdrawal will bring peace to Iraq.


I do know what peace looks like in San Francisco: it looks like the Presidio. Long vigilant (and heavily armed) against attacks that never came, the Presidio was decommissioned nearly 15 years ago and returned to the people as a National Park. Here's the parade ground, now gone to wildflowers, at Fort Winfield Scott--named for a general in a long-ago war of choice that Lincoln opposed and Thoreau refused to support with his taxes.

More below the fold...


Military infrastructure turns to picturesque ruins.


Weeds--volunteers--reclaim the batteries that once housed massive artillery.


Gun emplacements gradually blend into the beauty of the landscape.


The buildings at Fort Scott will eventually be renovated for non-profit and educational tenants. The resources once dedicated to war are being redirected to peaceful use.


I'm not naive enough to believe there will ever be World Peace, but I am shrewd enough to calculate that the benefits of peace nearly always outweighs the necessity of war.

[That's all, folks]