(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

I didn't think they'd have the guts to actually do it... to gun down unarmed, unarmored, pacifist, vegetarian Buddhist monks in the street. To break into monasteries and beat them bloody and then cart them off to prison and torture.

But then, i am eternally an optimist. I am the sort of person who holds out hope that even a jackbooted thug is capable of retaining some semblance of their humanity, in looking upon the clergy they probably once revered as much as everyone else around them and questioning, at least the slightest little bit, the order to fire upon them.

Considering that the Burmese military junta killed 3,000 people the last time around (during their crackdowns on student protests 19 years ago), maybe the prominence of monks in this round of protests has encouraged them to show a little restraint.

To know that someone, somewhere, can find the courage to go into the streets and look upon a line of troops in riot gear, and bear witness to injustice in spite of fear and violence... it gives me hope and faith. Faced with the same danger, would i do the same? I like to think i would, but i won't know for certain until i find myself in the same position.