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Vietnam. responsible for our actions or become an irresponsible person. But the irresponsible are still responsible for their actions, and will one day have to account for them, for they are all committing crimes against Humanity. Learn this by heart if you must, but refuse to obey a hierarchy - . wed 1 1 red wd which seeks to make you perform an action to which you would not like to be held responsible. The armed forces are the most dangerous example. It would be much better to die for having refused to kill, than to kill under the pretext of obeying orders. He who executes these monstrous orders is in fact more responsible than he who has . 1 given them. No cause would justify the imposition of pain on others. If the survival of Humanity depended upon the pain inflicted on one man, a single non-violent man, then it would be better to let Humanity perish. Even more so if it means the survival of one’s country, or rather a frontier arbitrarily traced on a globe which belongs to all men. Absolute respect for this principle is the only way to prevent the imperceptible slipping of Humanity towards deresponsibilisation of individuals. The following sentence should be ever-present in our minds: ‘I am totally responsible for everything I do to others even if I am ordered to do so.’ ‘No cause could ever justify inflicting pain or death on a non- violent person, and even if the survival of Humanity depended on it, this would not justify an exception.’ This is the second sentence : D4 It is evident of course, that this rule does not apply in the case of legitimate self-defense, which is s explained i in the messages and which ad toe permits the possible overpowering, even by force, of one who tries to use violence against your person or your loved ones. Ifa military man was threatening the destruction of Humanity with nuclear missiles, it 321 AN ATHEIST RELIGION - DERESPONSIBILISATION Hiroshima, or the helicopter pilots who burnt the villages in We all have a choice at every moment of our lives: remain wae : 1 : “4 n which must be ever-present in our minds. mea r toa) 44