I was doing the second Spring mowing today and noticing the weeds popping up in spite of fertilizer that was supposed to contain herbicide. So I got to thinking about all the “-cides” we have: “herbi-“ for plants we don’t like, “insecti-“ for bugs we don’t like. Then it gets worse: “geno-“ for people we don't like(large groups),"homo-" for people we don't like(small groups), and“sui-“ when we don’t even like ourselves – and slipping further into the morass: “infanti-“ when we wish to get a head start on “geno-“. As far as I can see, human beings are the only creatures that indulge in “–cides”. Maybe that is because they are, in all cases, a result of our judgment of other living things, and judgment is a capability (albeit one forbidden by Jesus) that is possessed only by man. “But”, I hear in retort, “what about the God of the Old Testament? For example, didn’t he order killing of all the Canaanites, man, woman, and child?” Actually I don’t think the God of the Old Testament is any different from the God of the New Testament (Jesus), who orders us to forgive – even love – our enemies. I think what is different is our understanding of what God wants. At one time people thought the “gods” were angry when natural disasters happened and they offered human sacrifices to try to prevent these natural catastrophes. Then God showed through Abraham that human sacrifice was not necessary – in fact was abhorrent to God – so man sacrificed animals instead. Later Prophets proposed that God did not want dead animals offered to Him either, but rather for men to honor Him and honor each other as His creations – e.g. “what does God require of you, oh man, but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?” I am reading a very good book now by the young Jesuit, John Dear, “A Persistent Peace”, who claims that Jesus is completely non-violent and his true followers must be too -quite a difference from the type of human who deals in so many –cides.

To bring it back to my yard, what is a weed that we must perform herbicide on it?- We make that arbitrary judgment; it is agreed in the neighborhood that yards must be filled with green plants composed of narrow leaves – a completely subjective judgment.

To perform genocide, humans also make a subjective judgment. So does this mean that weeding is a “slippery slope?” No conclusion on that yet, but, indeed, there would be less war if we could all follow the basic teaching reiterated by Jesus: “Love God and Love Others.”

On the other hand, I might make an exception in the case of mosquitoes.