Do We Have to Fight?
Sun., March 2, 07:16 PM
One of my Jonah teachers once said that I was a “natural.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but I do know that I was doing what if’s when I was still very young.
When I was about ten or eleven, I tried to figure out why there were wars. I finally decided that it must be the quest for food. I confided my conclusions to a friend, who laughed at me. (I know what years she was my friend, that’s how I know I old I was.) “How silly,” she said, “they fight for power.” Power? What is power? It’s such an intangible reason. I thought about it some more. Love is a very strong emotion, but I couldn’t think of any way it could cause a war. I figured that food was the best answer I could come up with.
(It occurs to me that that was the age when I promised myself that I would never dismiss an idea just because it came from a kid.)
I grew up to learn that I wasn’t so far off. The Germans called it Lebensraum – space to live – and it was important enough for them to be willing to fight the world. Hitler may have craved power, but he got the people to follow his lead by promising a better life, i.e., one where children wouldn’t starve. It’s an incomplete explanation – it always is – but I think it always comes down to that. My side will battle your side because we both want the same thing – the basics of life – and I will fight on my side because I believe we deserve it more than you.
How childish that sounds! But does Mr. Dubya sound any more mature? Does he remark that maybe Iraq has made a good start, let’s see what else they can do? No. “We’re gonna get ya.” He says he’s not interested in oil. No? What did you say his business was? Did he ever champion the cause of finding substitutes for oil? Of course not, that would ruin his business. (I’ve never believed that divesting oneself of business assets in order to serve in public office meant that the interest didn’t still exist. We’re human, after all.)
Peace in the Middle East, he says. Striking Iraq is supposed to bring peace? It’s going to unify the Arabs? With us or against us? (Seems to me, when you try to unify “Arabs,” you hear, “they’re not Arab, they’re Persian” – or Berber – or some other ethnic sub-group.)
The United Nations, our last hope for a peaceful globe, is spouting politics, not reason. The United States, the world power detested by so much of the rest of the world, stands there and flexes its muscles. Young people will be killed, and nothing will be resolved. I’m so confused.
Some of the radio stations are playing music from World War II, to get us into the mood, I assume. But my local station plays “Bring Him Home,” from Les Misérables.
In my need
You have always been there.
He is young, he’s afraid
Let him rest, heaven blessed,
Bring him home, bring him home…
If I die, let me die
Let him live, bring him home
Bring him home, bring him home.
Can’t we think before we strike?
