by Robert Randall, with feedback from many folks
Let us all agree on this one simple thing:
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people because you don’t like them.
It is not OK to kill people because they don’t like you.
It is not OK to kill people because they are different from you.
It is not OK to kill people because of what they believe.
Or because of what they don’t believe.
Or because they believe differently than you do.
It is not OK to kill people because they are wrong.
It is not OK to kill people because of who or what they are.
It is not OK to kill people because they are male.
It is not OK to kill people because they are female.
Or because they are any other gender or genders or gender-less.
It is not OK to kill people because they are straight.
Or gay,
Or bi.
Or trans.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people before they are born.
It is not OK to kill people after they are born.
It is not OK to kill children. Or young people. Or middle-aged people. Or old people.
It is not OK to kill people because they are disabled in any way.
It is not OK to kill people because they are a different race.
It is not OK to kill people because they are aboriginal.
Or because they are white.
Or because they are black.
Or because they are yellow.
Or because they are brown.
Or because they are red.
Or because they are any other color or shade or race or ethnicity.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people because they were born in a different place than you.
It is not OK to kill people because they are from a different country.
It is not OK to kill people because they are Chinese.
Or Russian.
Or American.
Or Iraqi.
Or Ukrainian.
Or Afghani.
Or Sudanese.
Or Yemeni.
Or from any of 190 other countries.
Or without a country.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people because they are a different ethnicity than you.
It is not OK to kill people because they are native people.
Or Kurds.
Or Chechens.
Or Hutu.
Or Karen.
Or Anglo.
Or Armenian.
Or any of thousands of ethnic groups or tribes or cultures.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people because they have a different religion than you do.
It is not OK to kill people because they are Hindi.
Or because they are not Hindi.
It is not OK to kill people because they are Muslim.
Or because they are not Muslim.
It is not OK to kill people because they are Christian.
Or because they are not Christian.
It is not OK to kill people because they are Jewish.
Or Sunni.
Or Shia.
Or Catholic.
Or Protestant.
Or Buddhist.
Or any brand or subset of any of those things.
Or any of hundreds of other faiths and religions.
Or because they are not any particular one of those.
Or because they are none of those.
It is not OK to kill people for any “religious” reason whatsoever.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people even if God tells you to kill people.
That is never the voice of God.
It is not OK to kill people if some religious leader tells you to do so.
That is not the voice of God, either.
It is not OK to kill people if some political leader tells you to do so.
That is not the voice of God, either.
It is not OK to kill people if your country tells you to do so.
Your country is not God, either.
It is not OK to kill people even if you are ordered to do so.
It is not OK to kill people even if you are in a uniform.
It is not OK to kill people who are in a uniform which is different from yours.
It is not OK to kill people even if it’s your job. Leave that job.
It is not OK to kill people because they are targeted.
It is not OK to kill people even if they are “collateral damage”.
It is not OK to kill people because their politics are different than yours.
Or their economics.
It is not OK to kill people because they are liberal. Or conservative.
It is not OK to kill people because they are capitalists.
Or socialists.
Or communists.
Or libertarians.
Or Georgists.
Or federalists.
Or one worlders.
Or decentralists.
Or anything else you may describe them as.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people because they are rich.
It is not OK to kill people because they are poor.
It is not OK to kill people by making them poor.
It is not OK to kill people who are nationalists.
It is not OK to kill people who renounce nationalism.
It is not OK to kill people who are patriots, no matter to which country.
And it is not OK to kill people who are citizens only of the world.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people because of what they do. Or did.
Or because of what they might do.
Or because of what they didn’t do.
Or because of what they won’t do.
It is not OK to kill people even if you think they deserve it.
It is not OK to kill bad people.
It is not OK to kill people who kill people.
It is not OK to kill people who won’t kill people.
It is not OK to kill people because they are in a gang.
Or not in a gang.
Or in the wrong gang.
It is not OK to kill people while breaking the law.
It is not OK to kill people while enforcing the law.
It is not OK to kill people because they are terrorists.
It is not OK to kill people, because we become the thing we are trying to kill.
It is not OK to kill people no matter who you are.
It is not OK to kill people if you are a “regular guy”.
It is not OK to kill people if you are a “big man”.
It is not OK to kill people if you are a warlord.
It is not OK to kill people if you are a religious leader.
It is not OK to kill people if you head a large corporation.
It is not OK to kill people if you head a country.
It is not OK to kill people even if you head the most powerful country on earth.
It is not OK to kill people even if you are a great international statesman.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people with your bare hands.
It is not OK to kill people with sticks and stones.
It is not OK to kill people with knives and swords.
It is not OK to kill people with guns.
It is not OK to kill people with poison.
It is not OK to kill people with tanks.
It is not OK to kill people with lethal injections.
It is not OK to kill people with pathogens.
It is not OK to kill people with airplanes and bombs.
It is not OK to kill people with missiles.
It is not OK to kill people with drones.
It is not OK to kill people with nuclear weapons.
It is not OK to kill people with anything, no matter how creative you may be.
And it is not OK to build things to kill people.
It is simply not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people for fun.
It is not OK to kill people for entertainment.
It is not OK to kill people to stand your ground.
It is not OK to kill people for revenge.
It is not OK to kill people for justice.
It is not OK to kill people for democracy.
It is not OK to kill people because you are at war.
It is not OK to kill people to keep the peace.
It is not OK to kill people in a revolution.
It is not OK to kill people for the greater good.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people for profit.
It is not OK to kill people because they have something you want.
It is not OK to kill people for their land.
It is not OK to kill people for their resources.
For trees.
For oil.
For gold.
For uranium.
And it is not OK to kill people because of what you have that they want, either.
It is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people for your own honor.
It is not OK to kill people for family honor.
It is not OK to kill people for national honor.
There is no honor in killing people.
It is not OK to kill people because of some great wrong done in the past.
It is not OK to kill people yourself.
And it is not OK to have someone else do the killing for you.
It is not OK to kill by gang.
It is not OK to kill by mob.
It is not OK to kill by thugs.
Or death squads.
Or people’s revolutionary army.
Or militia.
Or army.
Or navy.
Or air force.
It is not OK to kill people using other groups of people.
And it is not OK to tell them it’s OK to do it.
And it is not OK to train them to do it.
And it is not OK to tell them to do it.
And it is not OK to pay them to do it.
It is not OK to pay them directly to kill.
It is not OK to pay them indirectly to kill.
It is not OK to pay taxes to kill.
It is not OK to invest in killing people.
Because it is not OK to kill people.
It is not OK to kill people.
Let us all agree on this one simple thing: It is not OK to kill people.
