Fightin' words...
Kathy here: today's guest blogger. While Christopher posts most everything on this blog, I figure it's about time for me to weigh in again.
Last night, I watched the movie Why We Fight. I recommend it. I am sickened at how many boys and girls we've poured into our wars: for what? For money. Yes, there's a time to stand up and fight for what we believe in, but the way we've gone about it is so greedy and inflammatory that we can't say we're good, fighting against evil. We've complicated the issue with dollar bills.
We can't take down the military-industrial complex overnight. It's entrenched in our government, in our money, in our very way of life. But we CAN resist the fighting mindset as individuals.
Think about it; we fight and fight and fight. Not only do we send bombs and tanks and guns and troops to other countries, but we fight amongst ourselves. Some McCain supporters shout horrifying epithets during rallies, while some Obama supporters make unfair generalizations about their opposition's stupidity.
Regardless of whether or not the CANDIDATES engage in this behavior, CITIZENS DO. We're distracted so much by our own fighting that we fail to note real problems; why haven't we raised a cry of alarm about the idea of U.S. troops policing our own streets?
Our politics may differ; but what does our approach to those differences say about us as a people? Why do we shout? Why do we say things to purposely inflame? Even if we have a good point, why must we hate each other to prove it? Since when did antagonism breed anything but hostility?
We fight because there's money in it. But we don't need to. We will never stop fighting if we see other people only as either a means or an obstacle to our own agendas or fortunes. We will overcome our fighting nature when we recognize other people for what they actually are: People.
"If you see yourself in others, then whom can you harm?"
I write some inflammatory things sometimes. Oops.
ReplyDeleteCivil War General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain put our reasons for going to war this way: "we are here for something new. . . to set other men free. America should be free ground, all of it . . . from here to the Pacific Ocean. . . Here you can be somebody. Here is the place to build a home. It's not the land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me. What we're fighting for, in the end, we're fighting for each other."
ReplyDeleteThe great paradox is that to have peace we must go to war. As Shakespeare said, "take up arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them." [Hamlet]
Having been the beneficiaries of those who have already fought for our freedom. It is easy to say that war is unnecessary.
We find it romantic that the Nephites from the Book of Mormon, "were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for ... power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.
"And they were doing that which they felt was the duty which they owed to their God" (Alma 43:45-46)
The Lord counseled them, "Defend your families even unto bloodshed" (Alma 43:47).
Yes, we think it romantic for men to do it for their own families, but we think of it as imperialistic or nosey or bullying if we fight for others' families, wives, children, liberties, rights of religion, and so forth.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, after quoting those same verses said this:
It is clear from these and other writings that there are times and circumstances when nations are justified, in fact have an obligation, to fight for family, for liberty, and against tyranny, threat, and oppression.
"When all is said and done, we of this Church are people of peace. We are followers of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the Prince of Peace. But even He said, 'Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword' (Matt. 10:34)." [Ensign, May 2003, 78]
Granted, there is a great waste of life and money, and there are manufacturers who manage to produce armaments at such a price that it is profitable for them while making it cheaper for the government to buy those arms instead of forcing the government to produce weapons entirely by itself. You may call efficiency a crime. But who will believe you?
Forgive my soapboxing. I gotta get to class.
Thanks for the comment, Josh. It's great to see you've thought this through.
ReplyDeleteI suppose my post sounds clouded by my own kindergarten self wanting to scream at the mean boys on the playground: "Can't we all just be nice!?"
I don't have a problem with going to war for the right reasons. But that's just it; we have been lied to. The better, patriotic, freedom-loving sides of our citizens have been lied to in order to fuel an engine of war that creates revenue for those who jumped on board.
And many of us don't seem to be concerned about it. Rather than call for a serious look at our country's actions (that acknowledges both wise choices AND unacceptable behavior), we say we fight in the name of freedom--casting ourselves in the light that's more comfortable. To admit that we've been deceived makes us feel stupid.
The nature of the world we live in is war-like; but just because conflict is inevitable does not mean that we have to fund it. Whether private companies or the government itself spends the money and develops the weapons makes no difference; the amount of attention and money spent on armaments shows where our government's priorities lie.
Yes, the Book of Mormon story is romantic--when Moroni's leading the charge. But did we miss the ending? When the Nephites became so vengeful and paranoid about their security that they wiped themselves out? It was written for us--so that we wouldn't repeat it. I worry that we already have.