A WORLD AT WAR
We Are Not OK - Part 3
Last week we acknowledged the cloud that seems to loom over us even when we try to live out our normal ordinary lives in peace. It is a cloud of fear, of despair, of anger, of blame, of hatred and of outrage. Even in our best attempts to go on with life-as-usual, this cloud reminds us that we are not OK.
It’s like having a great time on vacation and coming back to realize the sky in all your photos looks gloomy because it never stopped raining. The rain may not have stopped you from enjoying the trip, but it likely had a significant impact on your plans and your mood while you were there, even if you tried not to notice.
In the past, such clouds moved in during seasons of great tragedy or turmoil, and then life would go back to normal. Wars and conflicts came and went. The stock market rose and fell and rose again. So-called leaders would fight out their opinions in campaign rallies and debates, the people would vote, and then we would all go home for a nice family dinner and that would be the end of it.
Not anymore.
No matter which political party held power, our nation has been at war for 19 years, almost the entire 21st century to date. With the exception of the “Indian Wars” throughout most of the 1800’s, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs records that our present Global War on Terror has far outlasted any other war in American history and there is no end in sight. (1)
By comparison, World War II lasted only 4 years from 1941-1945. Vietnam, previously our longest war, lasted 11 years beginning in 1964. Since Vietnam ended in 1975, our nation enjoyed 26 years of peacetime with the exception of a brief 1-2 years in Iraq from 1990-1991. We certainly cannot blame terrorists for all of our problems as a nation. We have far more blame than any one scapegoat can carry. Yet for the 19 years since September 11, 2001, our nation has not known “peacetime.” Yes, we were conflicted before 9/11, but the tone of our debates changed on that day. Everyone seems more on edge and many do not remember a time when that was not the case. After 19 years, fear and terror have become our “new normal,” and it’s not OK.
Those who were born the year of the attack have spent their entire childhood and adolescence under the shadow of war propaganda and national fear. Children have grown into young adulthood with no memory of peace. Those who lived through World War II certainly experienced similar fear, particularly after Pearl Harbor. Yet on June 6, 1944, a clear turning point gave hope to the Allied Forces and in the end, a decisive victory closed the book on Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror. The same cannot be said since 9/11. We have had some victories, but there is no clear end in sight.
While the War on Terror may not be the sole problem, or even the primary problem we face, living in a culture driven by war for 19 years takes a tremendous toll on everyone’s peace of mind. We may go on with life pretending we don’t notice, just like we tried to ignore the rain clouds on vacation, but no matter where we go, we keep getting wet and there is no shelter where we can hide long enough to dry out.
For as many accusations and assumptions are made against young people, we cannot deny that no other generation in our nation’s history has lived an entire lifetime under the cloud of war and terror. Rather than condemning the failures of a younger generation, we should be impressed that they have done as well as they have given the state of the world they have inherited.
I said last week that we are at war. Some may have found such language too harsh or extreme. The idea of civil war is hard to grasp in our day because we do not have clear battle lines or canons to fire at each other across those lines. Yet whatever form it takes, we live in a house divided and our “civil war”, as it were, has more fronts than we can possibly fight. It is a tribal war and the only winners are those who sell weapons to every tribe. Today’s ammunition may come in bullet casings, but if we’re honest, we have found words even more destructive. Whether we use the language of war or not, the words penned by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during the American Civil War have never before felt so poignant in my lifetime than they have throughout this recent holiday season.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, and wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along The unbroken song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, A chant sublime Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South, And with the sound The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent, And made forlorn The households born Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head; "There is no peace on earth," I said; "For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Next week we will look more at how this cloud of “not-okay-ness” has impacted and shaped us as a people, but for now I leave us with an invitation to lament. We must look square in the face of this darkness of our own making and hang our heads in despair and shame. We must examine our hearts and repent of the ways we have fed the darkness, both intentionally and unintentionally through our apathy and inaction. We must cry out to the Lord for mercy and we must extend that mercy to one another. We must grieve the state of our reality, and perhaps the state of our own hearts and souls.
But we do not grieve as those who have no hope. Even in the midst of a world torn apart, Longfellow writes one final stanza, a reminder that the worst thing is not the last thing and that a light has come into our world which the darkness cannot overcome.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men."
Reflections:
What thoughts and feelings come to mind when you consider an entire generation growing up in an age of war? If you have experienced peacetime, how does this thought impact your view of young people? If you are young, how have you seen the violence and fear of these decades impact your own life?
What line of Longfellow’s poem resonates with you the most and why?
Where do you see glimpses of hope in the midst of so much despair?
1) “America’s Wars, “ US Department of Veteran’s Affairs, Office of Public Affairs. https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf.