I’m tired of hearing about how much we’re spending on defense and the military.

It’s a well known fact that the military budget of the United States is almost as large as the rest of the world’s combined defense spending.

Estimates run from $660 billion to over a trillion dollars in the defense budget for 2010, about 5 percent of our GDP.

The new budget from the White House will have the U.S. spending above $2 billion every day.

And with good reason; US troops are deployed in more than 150 countries around the world, we’re fighting two major wars, several ostentatiously-named peacekeeping missions, and the ubiquitous global war on terror.

It’s undoubtedly expensive to keep the tanks greased, planes fueled and soldiers paid.

Though that’s simplifying it; defense spending includes $4 billion spent on recruiting, which also figures in about $22,000 in entitlement bonuses and the $1,600 spent on advertising for each recruit that enlisted.

Remember America’s Army, the free video game the DoD released a few years back?

Somebody got paid to make it.

Recently we celebrated the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. – I was struck by a quote. Rev. King said, “When a nation becomes obsessed with the guns of war, social programs must inevitably suffer. We can talk about guns and butter all we want to, but when the guns are there with all of its emphasis you don’t even get good oleo. These are facts of life.”

The words rang even more truly when the New York Times reported the president was going to freeze spending, excluding important programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and of course defense.

It’s a common talking point to cite the dangers of international terrorism as a justification for maintaining and increasing military spending.

Nobody wants to be seen as soft on the enemy. But when it comes to the state of our armed forces, as thinly stretched as they are, it is an obvious fact that there is no comparable conventional force on the planet.

Yet we continue to fund the military and train troops to fight with the same mindset of the British during the American revolutionary war.

As the British wore bright uniforms, marched in a straight line, and were cut to ribbons by guerilla fighters across their empire, we pour money into high tech hardware while our enemies handle obsolete soviet weapons we bought for them decades ago.

We occupy Iraqi and Afghani cities and are (surprise!) seen as the invading occupiers.

We are fighting a cultural and ideological force with all the finesse of a wood 2×4.

Meanwhile, defense contractors enjoy the opportunity to “support our troops” by turning a huge profit and American businesses enjoy the new potential markets in so-called stabilized zones.

Taking a closer look at the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, civilian deaths are a subject of much dispute, but studies say anywhere between 100,000 and a million have died in Iraq, and in Afghanistan, numbers easily suggest tens of thousands have died unnecessarily.

While some collateral damage is a fact of war, the fact that the military does not release official body counts and estimates suggest only 20,000 or so casualties suggests we’ve successfully killed more people who did nothing to deserve it than we have the targets the military intended.

This policy of accepting excessive civilian deaths, combined with a colonialist mentality of “the only acceptable government is our government” and never-ending occupation, suggests the war is one of attrition, and that defense is the furthest thing from the DoD’s mind.

When “defense” takes the form of an overwhelming force which answers to no one and consumes money sorely missed in a shaky economy, the money spent becomes revenue for what I call an offense budget.

Ironic to think that we have a Department of Defense (renamed in the late 40’s from the more accurate “Department of War”), yet no Department of Peace (despite numerous propositions).

At the same time we have defense spending, which conveniently encompasses all offense spending. And all this time, more people are forced to get by on the oleo Rev. King mentioned.

Would we pay for an offense budget? Probably not. Will people keep signing up and heading off as long as we call it defense? Most definitely.

Rebels kidnapped the group of children who were innocently playing soccer, blindfolded them, and cut a deep gash in their wrists, rubbing a mixture of gunpowder and cocaine into the wound to induce hysteria.

Then, rebel soldiers handed the still-blindfolded five-year-old Michel Chikwanine an AK-47 assault rifle and ordered him to fire. Chikwanine obeyed and killed his best friend in the process. Sadly, the nightmare was just beginning.

Students and faculty members packed into Carrington Auditorium on Jan. 21 to hear the heartbreaking story of Chikwanine, a former child soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo who now acts as a motivational speaker and advocate for oppressed children around the world.

After the being abducted and being forced to kill his best friend, Chikwanine spent the next two weeks of his life participating in village raids and violent acts of all sorts along with the rebel soldiers.

War again threatened Chikwanine and his family when he was 10 years old. First, rebel soldiers captured his father. Then several months later, rebel soldiers forcibly entered the family’s home, where Chikwanine was forced at gunpoint to witness his mother and two sisters being raped.

A child carries shell casings in a rebel camp in the Central African Republic. Photo courtesy Pierre Holtz/UNICEF CAR

Rather than succumbing to the violence and animosity he suffered, Chikwanine, now 22, became inspired to positively affect communities all over the world through education and public awareness. He works closely with two organizations: Me To We, a group dedicated to influencing world change by encouraging others to make ethical and socially conscious decisions, and Free The Children, which engages in building schools, developing water and sanitation projects, and other tasks in impoverished communities.

Chikwanine believes greed is the greatest thing that divides communities and keeps people from living and working peacefully together.

“I think the world today is full of (greed), but (in North America) it is a part of the culture we are born into,” Chikwanine said. “In school we are told to become doctors, professors- things that will serve you instead of the world.”

Chikwanine noted how greed had played a major part in the violence he experienced, citing that in the Congo, certain corporations had paid rebel soldiers to commit violent acts in the interest of securing precious minerals.

Chiwanine believes the antidote to greed is compassion and education.

“We can move away from this (greed) by learning about other people’s cultures and world issues,” he said. “If you love your computer, why not blog about issues that you care about? If you like to read, then read about other cultures. We must appreciate the world for what it is.”

Education is key to learning this compassion and appreciation for others.

“By educating children, you give them the opportunity to broaden their horizons and extend their own lives as well,” Chikwanine said. “Most of the wars start because people are not educated enough. Education allows you to choose the way you think.”

Hundreds of students lingered after the presentation in order to learn more about what they could do to help or participate in one of the organizations Chikwanine mentioned.

Michel Chikwanine

Chikwanine finds it crucial for privileged nations to hear of other countries that are not quite so fortunate. Just as is the philosophy of Me To We, Chikwanine is helping to change the way people think about global crises, and how the smallest of decisions can help bring about justice and revolutionary changes in the Congo and elsewhere.

The event was sponsored by Student Activities Council. More information about Me to We can be found at www.metowe.com. More information about Free the Children can be found at www.freethechildren.com.

I am a spoiled child. And if you’re reading, it’s likely you are too. Why is that? For one, you were born in the most privileged nation on the planet. Second, it’s likely you grew up in a relatively happy environment, and third, we have never experienced a fraction of the hardship much of the world endures daily.

Not to fault you for your birth; I believe all people should be treated the same irrespective of their origins. But because we are sheltered, we see the world through a cloudy lens, fogged up by our ignorance and naivety. That perspective isn’t shared by those whose lives are marred and tattered from violence, conflict, and war.

Violence begets violence, and many people who have pain forced on them propagate that struggle in their lives. Some would say that the nature of man is conflict. In a word, war. But violence is not strictly an evolutionary trait. It is a culture we learn through societal values and mores. And it is something we can unlearn, in time, with our words, our actions and our lives.

Building a sustainable society of peace is a monumental challenge; in fact it goes against the competitive mentality of selfishness that is celebrated by everyone who has something to lose and is cursed by everyone who has nothing to protect. But in a cooperative spirit of altruism, where we analyze the problems we are each facing, we can be real peace builders by addressing the causes of conflict rather than the symptoms of injustice.

The Student Peace Alliance advocates for a US Department of Peace and Non-Violence that will address the root causes that we are facing at home and abroad. Terrible circumstances in our country give rise to problems like domestic violence, juvenile crime and gangs. Despite our overwhelming military presence around the world, conflict zones fester and escalate into the wars of tomorrow. A US Department of Peace is an institutional way to address these issues at the highest levels of government and to examine the means to solve issues before they destroy lives and continue the cycle of violence.

Beyond that, SPA is a way for like-minded students to get together for the things they believe in. We will find ways to impact our community with the values of our mission; integrity, compassion, courage, creativity, and community. And by our influence, we will pass on and promote those values among others.

There is a paralyzing amount of apathy among fortunate people who take their rights and freedoms for granted. The most capable people in the world become the most useless when they think this way. The insidious thought that “I can’t change anything,” is what keeps real change from happening, the sort of change that goes beyond a campaign slogan into something that affects people’s lives.

You have the chance every day to go outside your sheltered, privileged life and be the difference the world needs. Changing the world starts with changing yourself. Student Peace Alliance is a way to help that happen. If you are interested, please contact me at PeaceMSU@gmail.com.