Winning the War

{first published on May 2, 2007 in Necessary Therapy}

 

 

          First, I need to confess my own quiet complicity in the current war.  I’ve had misgivings since we first invaded Afghanistan, but I’ve kept them to myself.  Here and there, I’ve pointed to some absurdities about war in general and this war in particular, but for me to now make judgments from higher moral ground would be just as absurd.

          Maybe I should muster up the courage (now that my conscience is more keenly pricked) to jump in with some political rhetoric.  But I just can’t bring myself to do it.  It would only be contrived.  It’s just not me.  I find myself so thoroughly apolitical, that all I can do is nod in agreement, shake my head in disgust, or quietly walk away.  None of these translate well to blogging.

          What I can do (and often do do) is hide behind the convictions of others and feign  innocence based on ignorance.  Allow me to quote Mr. Wendell Berry, writing during the first Gulf War in his essay - “Peaceableness Toward Enemies” (from Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community).

         “We must…consider the possibility that this war happened not because we had a purpose in fighting it but simply because we were prepared for it, because we wanted to show what could be accomplished by our terrible new weapons, and because we ‘needed’ just the sort of victory we won.” 

          I’ve heard it said that every generation needs its war.  There’s nothing like a good war to stir up the patriotic juices, to summon up a strong sense of self-righteousness, and to stimulate political debate.  War, even when diabolic to its core, serves a larger purpose that small-minded folks like me can’t even begin to conceive.   

          In the aftermath of this war (if we ever get to experience an aftermath), as we lick our wounds, we can tell ourselves we’ve at least done something in response to terrorism.  We, as in, everybody except folks like me - pansy bloggers who sit back and write pointlessly silly reflections instead of dealing with the real world of politics that makes a difference in peoples’ lives (and deaths).

          God bless America.  Please.