Memorial Day Reflections

Transcription

1 Memorial Day Reflections Lois Gish First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati 536 Linton Street Cincinnati, Ohio May 26, 2013 Memorial Day conjures up many meanings. Think the beginning of summer, a 3 day weekend, out door barbeques, swimming, vacation time, wearing white perhaps even a vacation from church attendance! Oh, and it is a time to honor those who died while serving in the military. Those of us with friends or family members that died while in military service take time to remember them. The exact origins of Memorial Day are disputed. There are at least five towns that lay claim to giving birth to the holiday sometime near the end of the Civil War. Yale University historian David Blight places the first Memorial Day in April 1865, when a group of former slaves gathered at a Charleston, S.C., horse track/confederate Prison where more than 250 Union soldiers had died and were buried in a mass grave. After digging up the bodies and placing them in individual graves, they built a 100 yard fence with an archway over the entrance with the words Martyrs of the Race Course. A short time later, on May 1, 1865 some 10,000 black Charleston residents, white missionaries, teachers, schoolchildren and Union troops marched around the Planters Race Course, singing and carrying armfuls of roses. Five black preachers recited scripture and a children s choir sang spirituals and the Star-Spangled Banner. This story is largely forgotten today but some historians consider that gathering the first Decoration Day or Memorial Day as we know it now. So closely linked with the Union cause, many Southern states refused to celebrate it and even today celebrate a Confederate Memorial Day on June 1, the birthday of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, even though after WWI the holiday

2 was expanded beyond honoring fallen Civil War soldiers to recognizing Americans who died fighting in all wars. So what is the problem with remembering those who gave their lives? For some Unitarian Universalists or UUs, there is no problem. These members believe in a Just War doctrine and may even believe that anything less than full support of our troops and whatever war we might be waging, is unpatriotic or even traitorous. One of the great Unitarian theologians and preachers, Theodore Parker, proudly displayed the musket that his grandfather, Captain John Parker, used in leading the rebel troops to oppose the British at Lexington Commons. Another Unitarian, poet and playwright, Julia Ward Howe, wrote the lyrics to The Battle Hymn of the Republic in 1861, which depicted the Union s military as the instrument of divine judgment and retribution, which did much to bolster the North s morale during a time of military setbacks. For other Unitarians, and I count myself among them, we feel some uneasiness with Memorial Day observances, especially in church. Why is this? We certainly grasp, at least to some degree, the enormity of losing one s life in war and the enormity of pain and anguish with the loss of family or friend. Countless times we have been told that these soldiers died so that we could be free free to march and protest, perhaps the very war in which these individuals died. So perhaps there is some guilt. Have we done enough to prevent war and to work for peace? How do we avoid the glorification of war? These are good questions to ask each other. Let us begin by taking a moment to reflect on the loss of our soldier s lives while serving in the military and if you desire, you may call out the name of an individual and your relationship and the war, using one of the microphones. Their names deserve to be said aloud and heard by all of us. (Pause for Congregants responses) (Nicholas Olivas, age 20, killed in Afghanistan, was a Cincinnati resident, and left behind a wife and an infant son, one year ago) In concert with our UU values, let us consider the lives of the enemy soldiers. Like our own soldiers, some chose to fight, others had no choice. These soldiers were human beings just as much as U.S. soldiers and they also had families and friends that loved them. While we may not know the names, let us reflect on the enormity of that pain as well.

3 And, sadly, most of the lives lost in war are not those of combatants. They are civilians. According to The International Committee of the Red Cross the civilian-to-soldier death ratio in wars fought since the mid-20th century has been 10:1, meaning ten civilian deaths for every soldier death. We may dispute specific numbers but I think we can all agree that war involves the deaths of significant numbers of innocent civilians. We could go on and count the wounded, the war related suicides, the psychological and environmental damage and heavy financial costs associated with war. After these considerations, does it not seem that we should also use Memorial Day to pay respects to those who have used their lives to work for peace and to end or prevent war? Warriors for peace deserve to be remembered, for they point to a different way to resolve conflicts and they are certainly aligned with our Unitarian values. Our very survival on this earth may depend on learning from them and imitating them. While we take a few moments, you may use the microphone and call out the names of some of these warriors for peace, in the past or alive today, who we should remember. (Pause for Congregants responses) (Socrates, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the Berrigan brothers, Henry David Thoreau, Cindy Sheehan, Dorothy Day, Jane Addams) I would guess that some Unitarians believe we are always going to have wars. We can protest war and work for peace, but we don t really expect that we can end war. Is there really no hope for change? No hope for a more peaceful world? I met Captain Paul K. Chappell a few years ago at the Indian Hill Friends Meeting when he spoke to a small gathering of local Peace Church members. Now Peace Leadership Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Chappell is a West Point graduate. He served in the army for 7 years, was deployed to Bagdad and left active duty in I confess that I was surprised to learn that in addition to studying war, he had studied peace and soldiers of peace such as Socrates and Gandhi while at West Point. Growing up in Alabama, Chappell learned about the effects of war at an early age. His father who was half black and half white joined the army when it was still segregated and fought in Korea and Vietnam. He was a 30 year career soldier, decorated for valor during combat. At the age of 4, Chappell awoke one night to find his father pulling him forcefully out of bed, cursing and screaming and saying he was going to kill him. In Chappell s own words I

4 witnessed the hidden consequences of war that take place behind closed doors, far away from the battlefield. Affected by his violent behavior at an early age I began thinking about the problem of war and why it has to end. You may find it surprising that despite his childhood trauma from his father s post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, that Chappell would join the army. However, he was like many young people who learned as children that violence is necessary to stop violence think Superman, Spider-Man and Batman who protect and save the world by beating up villains. Think about action movies in which the good guy kills the bad guy, saves the world, wins the girl and achieves peace. Chappell believes superheroes may teach some values to children but the larger problem is that people grow up knowing little to nothing about warfare and military history and instead learn from TV and the movies the myth that violence can solve all of our problems. Chappell says that when he studied military history at West Point, he was shocked to learn how ineffective and unreliable military force actually is. Chappell says it took him many years of personal struggle before he understood the nature of war and peace with greater clarity and was convinced that waging peace is practical and effective. He says: War is widely accepted as necessary because it is still perceived as the most reliable way of providing security. Unless waging peace is framed not just as a moral choice but as the best means of providing security for the United States and the world, the advocates of peace will remain marginalized and largely ignored. As long as people believe war is necessary to make their families safe they will continue to accept it as a necessary evil. Archbishop Desmond Tutu says Captain Paul K. Chappell has given us a crucial look at war and peace from the unique perspective of a soldier, and his new ideas show us why world peace is both necessary and possible in the 21 st century. Chappell is the author of four books Will War Ever End?, The End of War, Peaceful Revolution and The Art of Waging Peace, to be released in a few weeks on July 4. Chappell challenges us to wage peace with some of same strategies as we wage war. Waging peace starts by understanding that human beings, at least 98% of us, are not naturally violent. This is evidenced by the fact that the military has

5 to train people to kill and also has to provide therapy for the psychological damage or post traumatic stress disorder created as a result of wartime experiences. Chappell was greatly influenced by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman s book, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society. It is required reading at West Point and for the FBI academy as well as for Peace Studies majors at Mennonite and Quaker colleges. The greatest problem with all armies in world history is getting soldiers to fight and be willing to die. How do you prevent them from running away because the human flight response is greater than the fight response? Effective armies know that when people s loved ones are in danger, we will fight to protect them. That is why the military needs to become like a family for soldiers. The military has a most effective strategy in taking people from every background and ethnicity and creating a family. Love of comrades works. This kind of love makes organized warfare possible! Chappell quotes a 6 th century Chinese philosopher named Lao-tzu: By being loving we are capable of being brave. War propaganda always says we are fighting in self-defense, fighting to defend families or freedom or way of life. We might fight to liberate people or free them from dictators. People will fight for noble ideals. No leaders would simply say we are fighting for more money or oil. Fighting for a noble cause is also effective for warriors of peace. One of the highest emotions is moral fury. Where people see injustice, they have moral outrage. Gandhi and Martin Luther King used moral fury to wage peace and it was effective in building non-violent resistance to oppression and injustice. Today, with the availability of nuclear weapons, war becomes more and more dangerous. As long as aggression is emphasized as a way of preventing and resolving conflict and diplomacy and other peaceful means are largely ignored, we will not see the end of war. So it is up to us to become peace warriors or soldiers for peace. The lives of our children and grandchildren, the survival of our planet may depend on us. Our UU values are a great foundation to make us some of the best peace soldiers. Ideals such as freedom, justice and peace inspire the human spirit and the power of love can be used more effectively for peace because peace is more in keeping with our nature. Wars can be prevented just as surely as they are provoked. We must dispel the myths of war, refute propaganda and refuse to dehumanize others.

6 Captain Paul K. Chappell not only believes the end of war is possible, he believes it is necessary and that we can achieve the end of war in this century. That is good news!. My housemates, Angie Denov and John Blickenstaff keep this saying taped to the dashboard of their Prius. When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. May we honor those who lost their lives in war by becoming warriors for peace, using the power of love.