I had an interesting thought today... twice a year, that's roughly every six months, we have a holiday to commemorate those in our armed forces; those deceased and living. Neither of these are a day to commemorate the tolls of war, or to promote peace. There may be a prayer for peace, or something to that effect but it seems half-hearted, and quite honestly a form of posturing. In fact, to actually protest war on one of those days is heavily criticized and seen widely as an affront to our men and women in the armed forces. It's also interesting to note how long we've been at "war" as a nation. (The last constitutionally legal war was WWII, so perhaps the word "war" isn't appropriate, but it describes our actions de facto even if it isn't the technical term for what we're doing right now.)
It's no wonder one sees peace signs every where we go. On clothing, in marketing, and the loads of various merchandise. Yes, it seems at first glance that as a society we are just plain sick of war. Counter intuitively however, I don't really see a mobilized anti war movement apart from those on the fringes of the political spectrum. Why is that? Very few want to speak out against drones and illegal wars. As a society that is growing ever more into a herd mentality and farther and farther away from the individualist roots which was to be our legacy, no one wants to be the person to stand up against the flow of contemporary political and military policies. In my humble (and very non-professional) opinion however, that is exactly how we should go about supporting our troops.
We shouldn't be jumping the gun, so to speak, in matters of foreign policy. Even when we are trying to help, it has a tendency to blow back in our face. From the little I do know about our historical past in that area, I really can't exaggerate enough how cautious I think we should be. Not only for our own well being, but for the well being of all the other humans on the planet.
Now, I've been known to make jokes about my foreign policy stances. I'm a pretty giant hippie, and a fan of Team America World Police. I'm anti-war and anti-force, but I'm not anti military or anti police. This puts me in a precarious position as a Libertarian. (Ask me how much I care.) Bottom line though, I'm a humanist. I'm also keenly aware of the fact that I do not actually know everything about anything. Human motivation and action is far too complex to just write off an entire group of them for any reason.
But I digress. I suppose my bottom line here, is that a soldier's biggest supporter should be a peace activist. Why would we be routing for people to go be killed, or blown up, or mentally scarred if we actually supported them as fellow human beings? A virtuous nation should have a foreign policy which focuses on peace and diplomacy. Wars should be a last stitch effort to protect ourselves and our children. Of course, that's just my opinion and I'm acutely aware what a radical these ideas make me.
At the end of the day we should all aim to have love in our hearts for one another. It's my greatest hope for humanity that we will find the love, compassion, and empathy for one another that we all deserve. That's a revolution that begins in each of us. We have to have it in our home; with our children, our parents, our partners, and our friends. We have to have it for the guy who cut us off driving down the highway. We have to have it for the drug addict and the police officer; the pan handler and that asshole at work. If we don't have peace in our hearts we will never have peace in our world.
So there it is. Military veterans, active duty soldiers, children and spouses of those in the armed service... this Memorial Day I want to say: I love you, and I wish for peace.
Interestingly Mother's Day, not Decoration Day, was a day designated for peace. See the link below for more Mother's Day Peace Proclamations:
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!
Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking
with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be
taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of charity, mercy and patience.
We women of one country will be too tender of those of another
country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From
the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance
of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons
of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a
great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a
general congress of women without limit of nationality may be
appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at
the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the
alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement
of international questions, the great and general interests of
peace.
Julia Ward Howe
Boston
1870
Mother's Day Peace Proclamations
