War Is Terrorism
I wrote the following reflection and poem in 2003 and 2004. Sharing them today, Memorial Day Weekend 2014.
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The Delegitimization of War
The images coming out of Iraq make me sick in my stomach and in my heart.
My reflection:
War is hell. Why then are we shocked when we see images of cruelty and violence? This is the very nature of war. We confuse our young sons and daughters by sending them out with national approbation to kill and maim other peoples’ young sons and daughters then we are horrified when they treat their prisoners cruelly. Is it better to kill someone or to abuse them? Neither is better. Both are horrible. War traumatizes us all, violates us all. Yet there is also something perversely scintillating about seeing a naked human body being abused. Harming others brings out the very worst in us all.
The entire enterprise of war is illegitimate. As long as there are parents who send their young sons and daughters into this hell and as long as these young men and women obey their parents and their government, the illegitimacy and horror will continue to retain the illusion of legitimacy and rationality.
There must be a better way of resolving human disagreements.
There is a grander vision of human development that can displace the warrior’s thrill of conquest and sacrifice. We now have global and regional institutions to help resolve conflicts. People universally desire happiness and peace for themselves and their families. The time is fast approaching when it will be agreed that war, like slavery, is an abomination of humankind and will not be tolerated anymore.
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War is Terrorism
Terrorism mistranslated as "war"
Although war has always brought terror
Barbarism, the most primitive instinct
Of the human animal
Or more precisely, of the
Male ego – warrior and killer, driven by
Hormones and emotion and the
Comradeship of other males
Dying for that which is greater
Uniting with the Great Cause
Becoming one with Life and Death
A tragically flawed mysticism
And for what?
Oil? Democracy? Disarmament? Freedom?
Righteousness? Empire? Corporate contracts?
Such heartbreak
To see our precious, soft
Baby boys and girls grow up to
Maim and kill other babies, women, men
Who were once soft and precious
Held in their mother’s arms
Now cold and hard
And to be maimed or die themselves
May our hearts grow ever larger to give space to
Everyone
May a mother’s love rise within
Each of us
May we tame and transcend our egos
May we give up war for
Wisdom
And carnage for
Compassion