Well, I really am not sure. I've had family members who participated in wars. I've lived through a few myself, though never as a participant. I must say, I attempt to live by a 'turn the other cheek' philosophy, so the concept of war seems very counter intuitive to me. I realize there are larger issues at hand, and that sometimes we must take up arms against our oppressors, whether to defend or simply to 'correct' a situation. All I can say is, I am glad I am not in a position to have to choose. My father's generation was the Vietnam war draft generation, and I know many of them would have rather fled to Canada than face the draft. I would probably have been one of them. Following the decisions, especially the decisions to kill, wreak, wreck and destroy, that stem from one man or a select few just does not appeal to me. We have a government. The government has power. It needs to, in order to run things. Someone has to make decisions, and they have to be followed or chaos ensues. But I'm really talking about the innocuous things, like trade laws, fiscal policies, the divvying of responsibilities to the states and other managerial responsibilities. I can even swallow the horse pill of bureaucracy for the sake of all that nonsense. But to land on a foreign shore with your weapons drawn and to be given no choice in the matter, such things are unacceptable. Granted, my grandfather was a peace loving man who found himself in France during WWII. He was fortunate enough to not have to kill anyone, or so he remembered. I certainly respect the dismantling of the camps, and am encouraged when I hear tell of those involved having done assisted without shedding blood themselves. In fact, this isn't so much an indictment on war (which I still have a moral aversion to) but on the draft. Fortunately, I haven't lived to see it re-instituted. I suppose as long as little soldiers, malcontents, Sgt. Rock's and warmongers are born to us, I never will. Keep breeding, middle America. Keep breeding.
No comments:
Post a Comment