A Hole In The World
May 26th, 2008 at 10:00 am by Susie
From Memorial Day 2005:
Soldiers are not chunks of identical clay; they each have a story, their own reasons for being caught in a war.
Brave? Maybe - sometimes, under some conditions. Scared, mostly. The younger they are, the more likely their presence had to do with restlessness, cockiness. The need to be part of a winning team, the desire to even a score. Kick ass, take names. Kill them all, let God sort them out.
The older they are, the more realistic they are. This was a steady paycheck, or a way to supplement the one they already have. When they join, it’s with their eyes on the future benefit. When they’re in the middle of a war, they think only of surviving the next five minutes. Please, God, please. Let me see my family again.
And when they die in the war, each death leaves a hole in the world. It’s important to remember that, to not see them as a monolithic casualty list or as an acceptable loss.
No loss is acceptable. Ask the parents, the spouses, the children. They try. They tell themselves stories of nobility, sacrifice, a greater cause. They cover it up with the ritual rhetoric. But deep down, they must wonder.
Here is how to count the cost: In high school graduation pictures that will never be replaced with wedding pictures. In wedding rings that will never be worn smooth by years. By the daughters who will walk down the aisle with an uncle or brother instead of Dad. By the sons who will find themselves angry and lost, not understanding why. The children who will hear about their mother’s eyes, their father’s chin but won’t ever see themselves reflected in that face.
By the parents who now understand the quiet obscenity of outliving their own children.
Each and every one of these deaths left a hole in the world. That is why we count them.
They mattered.
Susie,
Two videos on the anti war theme…
Rod McKuen - Soldiers who want to be heroes number practically zero
http://youtube.com/watch?v=inIwxjip7yw
Seasons in the Sun - Beach Boys (Jacques Brel)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fzjIra9pheU
Susie, this post is so beautiful and sad. Thank you for it.
Yes, but sometimes war is necessary; sometimes it is the lesser of two evils.
If the world did not fight Hitler, he would have conquered much, if not the entire world.
If the Israelis did not defeat the Arabs in 1948, 67, 73 then a true ethnic cleansing would have followed (very different from the so-called ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the Arabs, who despite claiming they are being ‘cleansed’ have the highest growth rates on this planet)
If Russia went unopposed they would have spread their form of ‘communism’ (more like totalitarianist facsists) throughout MORE of the world than they did with the opposition.
There ARE things worth fighting for,
There ARE enemies who will not talk to you (i.e. Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, their charters speak plainly : the infidel must be killed… Hezbollah killed nearly 1000 Americans in the 80’s, most of them Marines in Lebanon as part of the multinational rebuilding force, there to aid the Lebanese…Al Qaeda continues to target civilians)
There ARE absurdities that must be faced pragmatically (i.e. Saudi Arabia begs America to come to its aid as Saddam starts heading towards their border… They save the Saudi, the Kuwaits…They save the Muslim Somalis, the Muslim Kosovar Albanians… Yet many Islamists still see them as the great Satan)
The world isn’t as rosy place as you think… DON’T BELIEVE ME? By all means, board a plane to Mecca wearing your cross and American flag…
Soldiers give their lives so that others do not have to.
Is OIL a reason to fight for?