Twisting The Knife

Most of you already know that I think war is not the answer, that forcing people under threat of annihilation only alters the moment. Underground and out of sight, true evil only regroups and foments sympathizers that will rise again. Rather than salting the field, it might be better to pull a few weeds and take really good care of what is left, because the more healthy, well fed and content people there are, the less room there is for hateful ones. Loyalty and love are powerful weapons.

Wars are seldom, if ever, fought for good, or obvious reasons. They are generally the tool of specific groups reaching for very specific gains at the expense of all the people in the middle.

That being said, I have a soft spot in my heart for so many of the young soldiers out there, willing to die for what they believe in. It is true that we use young people to fight wars and they are the ones most likely to garner those purple hearts and other medals of honor, because they do not really think things through. While I do not condone their killing and I have never been one to blindly follow orders, I understand where many come from.

They are young. Young! Despite the death and destruction they wreak, they often do it with a passion and a desire to be what they have been taught is great. All their lives they hear the stories of heroes who go to war and save the kingdom. Trying to get out of the ghettos and misery of a world so screwed up an honest man working sixty hours a week is often still unable to provide for his family, they sign up to work for Uncle Sam, thinking it is one of the last places they might gain a foothold honorably.

Most of us remember the face of a child who looks at us after being hurt by a doctor, or disciplinarian for their own good. The face that says, “How could you do this to me?” It is innocence. It is inexperience. It is a belief in something good that turns out to hurt more than they thought. Many of our young soldiers feel just like that and the price they pay is terrible. Not that it justifies the damage done, but it does explain why their stories and faces twist the knife in my heart just a bit more.