Somehow I wandered out of Los Angeles.
I was born in 63.
The year that they killed Kennedy.
3 years later we were in a war
& still don’t know what we were fighting for.
Somehow I wondered as I wandered into the Doors, post Van Halen & the usual ego driven high school trips AWOL & scribbling notebooks like Harriet the Spy. Somehow I drifted into Austin for the turn of the century unrealized Y2K mayhem but the real maelstrom was a year and ½ away on 9/11.
Forty years since the summer of love. And here we are.
I hear that a lot is on the line in Iraq, but tell me wasn’t there a lot of talk like that about Vietnam. Best as I can tell, we lost that war, and there was a great deal at stake with that War, domino theory and all. Kind of makes you wonder what would have happened had we won! I happen to believe that if a war is a just war, then the right side will win. Look at three pivotal wars in recent history: the American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II. Can it not be argued that a great good arose from these?
In the evolution of man, it seems that despite the worst inclinations of some of us, our civilization slowly yields to the good. Having learned the importance of innate human rights, the white man was forced to concede that personal liberty was the providence of the black man as well. And both black and white man then were cornered into having to admit that these rights, such as the right to vote, extended to women as well. Hitler was grossly delusional in his wanton and evil disregard for the Jewish people’s right to their very lives. Having realized that white-borne communicable diseases and territorial avarice lead to the widespread eradication of Native American populations, Americans now let the Indians exploit and sap those Americans gullible enough to gamble in their casinos of their life savings.
It was the dictates of conscience, and conclusions of men committed to scriptural ideas found in all major religions that slowly yielded these advances in mankind’s civility. It was not the triumph of one ideology over another, but the triumph of goodness and decency, mercy, forgiveness, and an openness to rise above the petty and fleeting circumstances of our temporal mortal lives. Sometimes in asserting our rights then, and in the course of securing those rights for others, wars are fought. Lives are lost but its specious to use these just causes to morally justify every military action undertaken arbitrarily by any one country.
History is full of interesting tales of how the tables are always turning. Just because the United States has been involved and on the winning side in just causes does not mean it has carte blanch to wage war whenever and where it sees. The American Revolution was fought against the Imperial British, but who joined us in Iraq but the British, and who was maligned in the process, but France, an indispensable ally against the British in our fight for independence.
The choice to use bloodshed is regrettable and hopefully avoidable. Also it is hopeful, and perhaps, imperative that the cause be a just cause. Southern states buried millions of American men who went to their deaths defending their right to keep humans in perpetual human bondage. Think about that.
It can be argued that Jesus could have fought off his tormentors, could have used to violence or guile to avoid his fate, but instead accepted his fate stoically, preferring to wage a much more important fight on a spiritual battlefield. The point lost on most folks is his remark that the rest of humanity isn’t off the hook; that they must too take up their cross if they are to be worthy of him.
So what’s the point then? Would pacifism have won World War II or freed the slaves? On the other hand, the fall of Saigon did not lead to rapid rise of Communism throughout the world. Maybe short victories were won, but the proof will always be in the pudding. Change can be slow and painful. History is littered with the casualties of this process. It’s an ongoing dialectic with the pendulum always swinging between war and peace. Always carrying that big stick, it’s important to remember speaking softly, is probably even more important.
Jesus lost the immediate battle in that he lost his mortal life, but he gained spiritual life, and the fruits of his sacrifice can still be measured. So it’s important to remember that sometimes in losing we still win. As he said, he who loses his life save it, and he that seeks to save his life will lose it. It’s a matter of knowing of how to lose, and how to win, gracefully, and for the right reason.
Our current generation will have plenty of battles to fight, but I fear that the current war mongering and hate mongering in the name of 9/11, only detracts us from the real battles we must fight in the future.
Onward through the fog …
