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POWER WITHOUT MERCY
When a Superpower’s Strength Outgrows the Mercy That Should Restrain It
Harold Michael Harvey
We are living through such a moment now.
For months, the United States has waged what many have called an undeclared war against Iran. The headlines arrive with the rhythm of a drumbeat: schoolchildren killed in airstrikes; senior Iranian leaders targeted and assassinated; peace negotiators bombed while carrying proposals meant to stop the bloodshed.
In the Strait of Hormuz, American and Iranian vessels face each other in a tense maritime standoff, each side daring the other to blink. Oil tankers idle like hostages. The world holds its breath.
And over it all, the American President issues threats that echo across continents, threats to “annihilate” an ancient civilization, one whose poetry predates the English language, whose cities were old when Rome was young, whose memory stretches back to the earliest chapters of human time. These are not the words of diplomacy. They are the words of a nation forgetting its own history, its own fragility, its own moral obligations.
Meanwhile, the American stock market rises and falls like a fever chart. A single mention of ceasefire sends it soaring; a single threat sends it plunging. Oil prices convulse. Working families feel the tremors in their grocery bills, their heating costs, and their commutes. The global poor, who have no voice in these decisions, pay the highest price. A blockade in the Persian Gulf becomes a tax on a mother in Detroit, a farmer in Kenya, a bus driver in São Paulo.
This is what power without mercy looks like. It is not a strength. It is not leadership. It is a form of blindness.
Nations, like individuals, reveal their character in moments of crisis. When a country possesses overwhelming military might, the temptation is always to use it, to believe that force can solve what diplomacy cannot, that threats can replace negotiation, that fear can substitute for respect.
But power without mercy becomes reckless. Power without accountability becomes dangerous. Power without imagination cannot see the humanity of others.
We have seen this pattern before in American history: the belief that overwhelming force can bend the world to our will. It has never worked for long. It has always left scars on foreign soil, on American soldiers, on our national conscience.
The Guest House*
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning, a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond.
~ by Rumi
To threaten such a civilization with annihilation is not only morally indefensible; it is historically absurd. Civilizations do not vanish because a modern nation wills it. They endure. They outlast the empires that try to dominate them. They survive the bluster of presidents and the ambitions of generals.
Every blockade in the Strait of Hormuz sends shockwaves through the global economy. Every drone strike reverberates through markets. Every threat from the White House becomes a tremor in the price of oil, a tightening in the budgets of families who have never heard of Hormuz and never asked to be part of this conflict.
This is the hidden cost of American foreign policy: the way it reaches into the pockets of ordinary people, destabilizes fragile economies, and turns distant conflicts into local hardships.
War is never contained. It leaks into everything.
I have watched these events unfold with growing unease. I have listened to the pundits, the analysts, the retired generals. I have waited for someone to say plainly what seems obvious: that a nation cannot claim moral leadership while threatening to erase another civilization; that a democracy cannot bomb peace negotiators and call it security; that a superpower cannot kill children and call it collateral. Bombing the infrastructure of Iran at will only goes to prove the Iranian point that they need a nuclear weapon to deter outlandish aggression from the United States. If Iran had a nuclear weapon, this invasion would never have happened, certainly not with the impunity displayed by the Americans.
So, I break my silence. Not because I have all the answers. Not because I speak for any party or ideology. But because conscience demands it.
A nation as powerful as the United States must be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. Our strength should be measured not by the reach of our weapons but by the restraint with which we use them. Our greatness should be judged not by the fear we inspire but by the mercy we extend.
Power without mercy is not sustainable. It corrodes a nation’s soul. It erodes the trust of allies. It fuels the resolve of enemies. It destabilizes the world.
We must demand better from our leaders, from our institutions, from ourselves. We must insist on diplomacy, accountability, and a renewed moral imagination. We must remember that the world is not a chessboard but a shared home, fragile and interdependent. The Artemis crew told us as much on their voyage around the backside of the moon. The crew described a universe abounding in darkness, but Earth stood out as a living, breathing, colorful rock in the cosmos. How blessed we are to live on a planet bustling with life. We should at least respect what we have by living peacefully with those who inhabit this oasis surrounded by darkness.
I have been quiet too long. But I am speaking now. And I will continue to speak until mercy returns to the vocabulary of American power.
Author’s Note
I’ve been away from this space longer than I intended. Life pulled me toward the work that pays the bills, necessary work, steady work, but work that leaves little room for the writing that asks more of me. Like many writers, I live in that tension between calling and survival. Some seasons allow both. This one did not.
But even as I tended to the work that keeps the lights on, this piece kept pressing on me. I carried its sentences through long days. I felt the weight of the moment growing heavier, the cost of silence growing sharper. Eventually, the pull to speak became stronger than the reasons to stay quiet.
So, I’m here again, doing the work I’m meant to do.
If this piece resonates with you, if you believe independent writing still matters in a world this volatile, I invite you to consider becoming a paid subscriber. I’ll be candid: it doesn’t take a crowd to sustain this work, but it does take a committed circle. Thirteen new paid subscriptions would give me the breathing room to keep showing up with the consistency and depth these times demand.
Whether you read freely or choose to support the work, I’m grateful you’re here. Thank you for giving these words a place to land, and for helping ensure I can keep writing when the moment calls for it.
~~~~*I have read Rumi before and use his words here...I use it today to illustrate for each of us to ponder?What could happen if we lost all writers of song, poetry and literatureby destroying another civilization?What would happen if we lost all scientists, doctors, researchers...We would NOT be the world we are today...So why is it that people like this president are allowed to screw aroundAnd deny the rest of us what we need to reach our own dreams?God created each of us and gave these gifts, like Rumi, for all...Don't allow freedom to disappear...
It was 2011 when I first met this wonderful, knowledgeable, and prolific writer who has used his life to speak for good for all people. I am grateful that God brought him into my life! Because at this time in our country, I sometimes find myself unable to find words that speak clearly and objectively, with details sufficient to perhaps change somebody's mind about the crisis we are facing. Yet Michael presents words that touch my mind and soul in the awareness of a man who speaks with the words of God's Truth and Love. This is one of those articles that will/should be shared across the nation and the world and so I send it out to all of you who stop by Book Readers Heaven often... and hope you share it as well...
Because I know that our Merciful Father has once again used Michael to speak of what needs to be said... And I, again, thank Him for bringing Michael into my life so many years ago... Please take the time to share directly from this site or find Michael on Substack, LinkedIn and other sites on which he can be found... Support his work if you can! This is a time when our Black Brethren are being attacked daily in one way or another... the latest is the forced relocation of refugees who had been accepted when a crisis occurred and a call for help was made... This president has no code of honor that helps him restrain and consider just how the people will be placed in harm's way... Indeed, he routinely places millions in harm's way daily, doesn't he?
I, too, have found that I must speak of this crisis as much as possible. I had not seen this post originally shared in April, because of my own medical issues, but I'm so glad I was led this morning to think of Michael and have reposted it as per my agreement with him to be an ongoing contributor to this blog...
Do you have something you'd like to share as well? Let me know and let's talk!
Gabby
