War

Every year, when Memorial Day comes around, I find myself thinking deeply about the nature of war, sacrifice, heroism and patriotism.  These concepts are complex, but as so often occurs with loaded words, they are tossed about with little regard for the questions that surround them.

I have been watching PBS a lot lately, and they have been previewing a Memorial Day special that pays tribute to veterans.  They show images of young, disabled veterans in their uniforms with amputated limbs.  The images break your heart.  

 

We have so many men and women enduring lifelong pain and suffering because of war.   It is estimated that there are over 1500 soldier amputees from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in addition to the over 7000 who lost their lives.  Over thirty thousand have committed suicide since 9/11.   Rates of divorce, alcoholism and drug addiction are markedly higher among veterans, and our city streets are littered with homeless veterans.  It is impossible to accurately estimate the effects of PTSD and other psychological problems associated with war.

 

These US casualties, horrific as they are, pale in comparison to the devastation these wars wrought on the places where they were fought.  It is estimated that over 432,000 civilians died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

All of this suffering and tragedy is the result of wars from which one struggles to find any positive effects or deeper justification at all.  Indeed, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars may have been the most grievous mistakes in our nation's history.  The hubris, ignorance and short-sightedness that launched us into those wars almost defies belief.

There are very few wars that one can describe as ‘just wars’.  Every conflict the USA has engaged in since the Korean War (which one can argue had the positive effect of preventing all of Korea turning into North Korea – but could also have probably been avoided with wiser diplomacy) has been a complete debacle and waste of human life and resources.

 

We honor our veterans on Memorial Day because we must recognize sacrifice even when the justification for that sacrifice has been proven to be non-existent and the sacrifice itself accomplished nothing.  We honor them as patriots, but what does that mean?  It is not their love of country that is so moving, but rather their good intentions and their love and sacrifice for their fellow soldiers, which can carry them through even when the larger goal proves to be a fiction.

 

If we truly wish to honor the sacrifice of our veterans, then we should learn the lessons from the past and avoid interminable wars and conflicts of the future.  Easier said than done, one might say, but the rising tide of bellicose and jingoistic posturing by our elected representatives and various other pundits is an alarming signal that we are almost eagerly expecting and courting conflict in the near future.  If history is any guide, then those conflicts will have been avoidable and unconscionable.  Let us beware.