I'm remembering, rather belatedly, that 35 years ago today Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. In my darker moments, I feel that so many things that could have been achieved evaporated in that moment. The effect of the assassinations of the 60's has not quite left us, and in a way I believe that liberals and progressives will always be in mourning for what might have been.

As the antiwar movement gains momentum and draws more fire, I am once again full of bewilderment on the relentless attack on peace. The assassination of a man of peace is possibly the most horrible of ironies, yet I can't help but understand it. In a way war is completely natural to the human existence. When you think of the history of the world, there has never been a universal time of peace. War is constant. Peace is harder to achieve.

I'm not sure how consistent of a pacifist I am. I've often thought we've been too isolationist in the past. But regardless of what side of the argument I fall on, I always have had the utmost respect for the peace movement because pacifists act as our collective consciences. They remind us that to be put in the position of going to war is to have failed at preserving the peace.