Social Commentary #4/On The Abolishment of War

Open Your Eyes!

10/26/10

It’s happened again. As it has for centuries. As it will again. Five soldiers have been accused of murdering innocent civilians. They are U.S. Army troops who were stationed in Afghanistan. At first, I purposely did not reveal their nationality or location. In a sense, it’s irrelevant. It could have been any soldiers of any nationality at any time or place. It is the nature of war. It turns young, innocent boys into killers. By its very nature it is Survival of the Fittest and The Law of the Jungle. It is the Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now. It is as General William T. Sherman put it a speech after the Civil War: “There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell”.

Then why do we continue to wage it? Some will say that it is in our nature. War and conflict have always been part of the human experience. And it will be as long as we exist on this planet. But I refute that. Are we not thinking, feeling, and, supposedly rational beings? Isn’t it our intellect that separates us from the beasts of the earth? Isn’t our capability for sublime thought and feeling that makes us closest to whatever highest power we choose to follow? Does this not lead to a divine spirituality that every human being strides for under the guise of whatever religion we choose? If this is truly a search for a certain sense of divinity why, then, do we constantly fall into the same trap? We must seek the true spirituality of higher ground.

So, why do we constantly glorify war? We worship its heroism. We lionize the Pat Tillman’s of the world even when, had he lived, he would have been the first person to tear down the pedestal he had been placed on! We salute our returning troops as conquering heroes yet express outrage when photos of flag draped caskets are published. It’s all part of the same experience! This is the point: you can’t have one without the other. We have to open our once eyes once and for all to see war for what it truly is. There is a great scene in the film “Bridge on the River Kwai”. The British colonel who is in charge of the POW’s is entreating the Japanese camp commander to follow the rules of the Geneva Convention. The commander cuts he off and says, “don’t speak to me of rules. This is WAR”!

Dana Holmes, the mother of Pfc. Andrew Holmes, one of the accused soldiers, says the Army bears the major responsibility for her son’s behavior. She claims he left an innocent 18 year old and came back a beaten and broken man, physically and emotionally. Well, that’s what happens to many (most?) young people when you place them in a meat grinder called combat! It changes them forever, and not always for the better. And, as we evolve as a species, our reaction to the stress of combat has become increasingly destructive. The homeless rate for veterans is the highest it’s ever been. The suicide rate for veterans is appalling. I’m hoping that this latest calamity among our veterans is an evolutionary reaction within our brains to finally provide us with a gene that will prevent us from thinking that anything truly good can come from war.

And no generation is immune to it. Whether it’s a “just” war or not, it’s still a brutal business. Even “the greatest generation” suffered terribly the consequences of war. I thought this was powerfully realized in the last episode of “Pacific”, recently broadcast on HBO. As his father feared, Eugene’s soul was seared.

Of course, we should do a better job of making sure that our veterans receive the proper attention necessary to overcome the horrors they have experienced. But, in a sense, that’s like putting a band-aid on an axe wound. Also, we would be treating the symptom but not the cause. And that cause is our glorification of war AND its warriors. For example, whenever we mention the cadets of The USMA at West Point, they are usually referred to “the best of their generation” and “the future leaders of America”. Well, that they may indeed be the case but why are they always singled out for those honors? Aren’t other students from other schools and university just as worthy of such titles? Aren’t great teachers, chemists, doctors, lawyers, accountants, technicians, scientists, etc., etc., good enough for such consideration? Yet, whenever I hear another school mentioned during a college football game or other event, I don’t hear those terms used on such a regular basis.

At times of unpopular conflicts, I often hear “hate the war, not the warriors”. But, to me, this is becoming trite. Since Vietnam we seem to have heard that term in increasing volume. It started during Vietnam in reaction to the shameful behavior returning veterans experienced in this country. Since then, we’ve done a much better job of separating these young people from the often flawed decisions of their superiors. But even this is getting thin as a defense. In a volunteer army, it’s the recruits’ responsibility to understand that, upon that commitment, his ass belongs to someone else. And the decisions made by those people may, often, not have his or her best interests at heart.

Of course I respect those young people who serve in the military. But no more so than I do young people who dedicate their lives to other means of public service. And I would ask all young people (like Pfc. Holmes) and their parents/guardians (like Dana Holmes) to understand that joining the military is more than “be all you can be”. It can have truly deadly consequences.

I leave you with this. It’s also from General Sherman: “I confess, without shame, that I am sick and tired of fighting – it’s glory is all moonshine: even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families appealing to me for sons, husbands, and fathers. . . It’s only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated . . . that cry aloud for more vengeance, more desolation. “ (May 1865)

photo: F. LoBuono