This week’s post falls on Memorial Day which in the U.S. is a time to honor all who fought and died in the military. We can also use this day to reflect on the terrible suffering inflicted on so many people when violence, particularly the use of lethal force with the intent of extinguishing life, is the option chosen in an attempt to “win” a conflict. Even approaching this topic often leads to accusations of being unpatriotic or anti-military but that is not the case. Many people and organizations understand that choosing violence as an option will not lead to peace. Their position is not anti-anything. It is rooted in a desire to decrease human suffering and in fact is supportive of military personnel as they do not want to subject Americans, or anyone else for that matter, to the trauma of war.
No one should ever be put in a position where they are required to take another life. In the world that we have created the use of protective force seems to be necessary and few believe that violence can be ended in the near future. But we can begin to focus on reducing the violence in the world. I am suggesting that the science and study of peace and nonviolent conflict resolution needs to be a discrete area of study in our school systems from the moment children enter school. We can find a way to coexist peacefully and it begins with creating a culture that supports the discussion. Killing others in the hopes of resolving a conflict or causing any type of coercive suffering needs to be banned by all people and countries.
Here are a couple of quotes from a former member of the military and President. You may find his perceptions interesting. I have also included some sites that provide some information about the deaths on both sides of some of the conflicts the US has been and is involved in:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Vietnam War
Death Toll: https://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-WarCommon Dreams – The Iraqi
Death Toll: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/03/15/iraq-death-toll-15-years-after-us-invasion
Here are just a few of the groups that are working for a
more peaceful world through nonviolent action:
Veterans for Peace https://www.veteransforpeace.org/
Combatants for Peace: https://cfpeace.org/
Christian Peacemaker Teams: https://www.cpt.org/
Friends Committee on National Legislation https://www.fcnl.org/
Women Against War – http://www.womenagainstwar.org/wordpress/
-A local group in the Capital region
Food Not Bombs – http://foodnotbombs.net/new_site/
-They have an Albany, NY group