This Veteran’s Day …
November 11, 2011
… if you want to thank a veteran, if you want to support the troops, work for peace!
“Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of man.” – Pope John Paul II
Advertisement
9 Comments
Comments are closed.
I find the message of another Steve Earle song equally timely today, as we mark the end of Europe’s great war of imperialism while winding down our own imperial adventures:
Rich Man’s War
I wish we were winding them down, David. I suspect it’s merely a transitional phase.
Here’s another Steve Earle song for today: Jerusalem
The “fix” resulting from the conclusion of any war is only temporary. Those Americans who glorify Lincoln and who talk about the “inevitability” of the American Civil War ought to be confronted with what T.S. Eliot said about the English Civil War: no “civil war” is EVER concluded. I think much the same can be said about any war anywhere on earth: it has “unforeseen consequences” which, inevitably, cause repurcussions of violence and social dislocation and disruption that were never even thought of when the war was first conceived in the minds of the warmongers who are called “politicians.” The soldiers, however, are almost never to blame–except for what REAL defenders of their community accurately call the “political generals.”
Amen. I found a great little quote from Francois Fenelon: “All wars are civil wars because all men are brothers.”
On this day, any comments that indict rank-and-file soldiers and veterans as war criminals are not going to be approved. Period. Fulminate at will against the politicians and generals who send young men into combat. Rail against the few criminals in uniform who target the innocent. But unqualified comments like “soldiers win wars by killing civilians” will not be permitted. It is ignorance, falsehood and calumny.
We don’t need this thread to turn into a debate about Ron Paul, but I really liked what he had to say from 3:00-5:15 in this video:
Ron Paul gets his say on Veteran’s Day. Whatever else he may be, Paul is both a veteran and a campaigner against war, unlike the chickenhawks that dominate Washington and the airwaves.
“…your hopes and your dreams / The cruel consequence of your conceit.”
Though most poignantly visible in the wake of organized violence, this is true of all unbridled human ambition. May God grant us grace to remember this warning whenever we strive to have things “our” way.
Thanks for this, Mark. Perfect.