Consicience vs. Brain? Try Imagination!

This is my letter to the editor published in October, 2004, just before the presidential elections.


The great debate raging in David Heitman's psyche ("The Great Debate: My head vs. my heart," Insight, Oct 3) presents a rarity -- someone who can see both sides of the issue! He has a conscience formed by Martin Luther King Jr., John and Bobby Kennedy, yet still finds comfort and "assurance in a Republican administration in bed wiht the military-industrial complex"-- someone who may possibly believe that the war is good for the economy but who still is aware that "over there," where the president wants to fight "them," are people with innocent families whose lives could be sacrificed, so that we don't have to fight "them" "over here."
The war between Mr. Heitman's conscience and his brain makes it hard for him to decide how to vote. With so little time remaining, I have help for him and it is this fact: There is more to your psyche than a conscience and a brain. You also have an imagination, and in Einstein's words, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
As Heitman struggles with the "great debate," imagine:

• A world in which we do not arm one country against another for nationalistic gain;
• Leaders who understand that our environment is what sustains us;
• A country that places value upon all human lives - not just those of our own nationality;
• Domestic policies that treat citizens equally;
• A country in which the only heads that roll are ones that lead to and condone torturous acts such as Abu Ghraib;
• A world in which we put as much faith in acts of peace as acts of war.

If your mind and your conscience make your decision difficult, just use your imagination.