Let us honor those who went to war, not to kill, not to slaughter, not to conquer, but to defend, to protect, to rescue.
Tragically, too often in our nation's past, the U.S. began and/or supported unjust wars.
Of the 100 or so wars and conflicts, ONLY one of all of our wars was defensive!
We humans, seldom, are angelic, but always seem to find new angles,
or recycled propaganda from wars of yesternight, so many dark nights of the 'sold.'
However, even in those offensive wars, there were many Americans who served though they passionately opposed their country's immoral actions.
Let us honor, today, all men and women who sought to limit, to change, to rescue others in the midst of the destructive evil of war.
That is the true duty.
That is the true honor.
Secondly, let us forgive our nation and those millions of us who chose so wrong--who engaged in, or supported, killing in wars which were immoral and unjust. Soldiers of the past who caused so many countless woundings, sufferings, and killings such as Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jackson, Chamberlain, Alvin C. York...
They killed for God, killed because of war fever, because they had been misinformed by their leaders.
We need to forgive them.
Of course, there are always millions of people who claim their country isn't wrong, or even worse the ones who declare, their country right or wrong.
Shall I list each unjust war by name, and how we were so deceived?
Not today...but
We are slow learners, we humans.
Let us on this Memorial/Remembrance/Decoration Day, then also, remember not to forget.
Let's stop repeating the past.
Forget about political bombast and intentional lies and empty slurs such as "defending our freedom" and the bombings that those empty slogans always begin to destruction.
Vote to end our warring in Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, and our support of dictators, warlords, and Islamic jihadists.
Please work instead for peace.
And remember those men and women who fought to defend, to protect, to rescue, but not to kill...
They are the noble humans for whom Memorial Day ought to be.
Thirdly, this Day of Remembrance ought not to be an honored memory of war in general, of nationalism.
The basis for the first Memorial Day was tragically that--about memorializing those who invaded, attacked, and destroyed.
Let's seek a change of heart--those of us who have gloried in our country's past wars. There is nothing glorious or heroic in going off to war, even a defensive war.
On the contrary, war is the greatest evil we humans commit.
In the Great War, 16 million people were killed and 21 million people were wounded or disabled.
And contrary to what government and religious leaders promised-- that the war would end war, the Great War only led to World War ll and more wars, including the wars at present. See The Great and Holy War: How WWl Became a Religious Crusade by historian Philip Jenkins and Preachers Present Arms by Ray H. Abrams.
When we choose war, inevitably, all the other Commandments also get violated.
Try to think of a war without any lying, without any stealing, without any cursing, without any profaning, without any fornicating, without any destroying, without any killing of civilians,
Without any suffering for the innocent...
It can't be done.
So let us, today, remember those multi-millions of humans who have fallen in the past to this most destructive and unjust of all acts.
Particularly, I think of my own father who went to war to protect and defend. He hated violence, even movie and gaming video violence.
We bow today to those who sought to serve and protect.
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
No comments:
Post a Comment