5/31/2021

JRB,

            When I was 13, I was elected by the Girl Scouts to lead the Memorial Day Parade. I had no conception of war at the time. I did not picture 18-years-olds jumping out of airplanes, or riding in a tank, or running up over a dune dodging bullets, grenades & rockets. Least of all, I had no idea that their esteemed elders had asked them to commit the most heinous violence a person can commit in the name of their country.

            Those words are hard to write & give me great pause. It feels profoundly disrespectful to articulate military service in this way, but it is true. While the army can do so much for a person by helping them develop discipline, become a team player, respect authority, get fit & learn a trade, above all else, it teaches young people to kill.

            Overcoming one’s natural aversion to murder takes extensive training. Even so, some estimates indicate that 16% of those fighting in Vietnam did not fire their guns. A WWII estimate is even higher. To my mind, this is a good thing. God does not want us killing one another.

            So, on this Memorial Day, like you, I grieve the people who lost their lives in battle, but I also grieve for those who lost their souls, who came back, broken, haunted by what they were asked to do, so much so, that too many take their own lives.

            Rather than valorize the sacrifice & uplift combat as the pinnacle of courage & manliness, I mourn the loss of life & innocence. I hope we can speak the truth about the horrors of war & violence – including that which has happened in every war & that which has happened here in the USA. We need to get real about the massacres of Indigenous people, the brutality inflicted on enslaved people & the ruthlessness against Black folk in Tulsa, Minneapolis & Philadelphia.

            It’s time for acknowledgement, apology & atonement for all the pain perpetuated by humans on each other.

            Peace be with you (PBWY),