Armistice About Face

Armistice, a truce, an agreement by both sides to stop fighting, and the hope in 1918 was that they’d seen the worse of it. That during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month there was a break in the fighting, and in that lull the sudden silence was the voice of God. 

But do we live in a society disconnected from war? Even as we ask ourselves whether we’re becoming desensitized to violence we look at the statistics and see dwindling participation in our nation’s wars. Nearly every kid in our nation’s secondary school system could probably describe intimately with sardonic verisimilitude Black Ops, or Metal of Honor, or Call of Duty, or whatever first person shooter has conscripted our children as virtual soldiers. War is not a fucking video game. War is killing. But this is something only 6.9% of our nations population knows. Our current population rests somewhere around 316,000,000 yet less than 22,000,000 living veterans of armed conflict are in our midst.

How does war affect your vote? How does war affect your life? How much money do you make? Do you think you make enough money that you’ll just pay taxes and that precludes you from having to participate in armed conflict? Imagine if congress had started a draft for the Global War on Terror--Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Would you have encouraged your son to flee to Canada? Would you have tried to find a means for your child not to have to fight because certain populations of our nation are entitled enough they need not experience war? 2,500,000 soldiers, sailors, and marines have participated in the last decade of war. That’s less than 1% of our nation’s population. Actually, that’s 0.86% of our nation’s population.

But was war ever supported with a greater percentage of Americans.

4.3% of the population in the 60’s and 70’s fought in Vietnam.

3.75% of the population in the early 50’s fought in Korea.

11.4% of the population in the late 30’s and early 40’s fought in World War II.

4.58% of the population in the late teens fought in World War I.

I wish I could conclude that dwindling participation in our nation’s wars means war is becoming obsolete. That progressive politics and increased diplomacy necessitates lesser numbers of troops waiting to take up arms, but we know that’s not true. Sure, we can brag about sticking magnified flags and yellow ribbons on our vehicles after 9/11. And I personally knew many men in the Army who joined out of patriotism and a calling to serve after our nation was terrorized, but those men are still part of the 0.86%.

I’ve set this track to repeat for a while.

Bob Dylan

“Masters of War”

Come you masters of war

You that build all the guns

You that build the death planes

You that build the big bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’

But build to destroy

You play with my world

Like it’s your little toy

You put a gun in my hand

And you hide from my eyes

And you turn and run farther

When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old

You lie and deceive

A world war can be won

You want me to believe

But I see through your eyes

And I see through your brain

Like I see through the water

That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers

For the others to fire

Then you set back and watch

When the death count gets higher

You hide in your mansion

As young people’s blood

Flows out of their bodies

And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear

That can ever be hurled

Fear to bring children

Into the world

For threatening my baby

Unborn and unnamed

You ain’t worth the blood

That runs in your veins

How much do I know

To talk out of turn

You might say that I’m young

You might say I’m unlearned

But there’s one thing I know

Though I’m younger than you

Even Jesus would never

Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question

Is your money that good

Will it buy you forgiveness

Do you think that it could

I think you will find

When your death takes its toll

All the money you made

Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die

And your death’ll come soon

I will follow your casket

In the pale afternoon

And I’ll watch while you’re lowered

Down to your deathbed

And I’ll stand o’er your grave

’Til I’m sure that you’re dead

I believe today is a day of remembrance for the universal joy that comes from peace. It’s not a day to remember the fallen: that’s memorial day. It’s not a day to take pride in our service: that’s vulgar and only glorifies war. It’s a day for commemorating the universal joy of peace.

So on this Veteran’s Day don’t thank a vet for their service. Instead, look inward and consider what it would take for you to go to war or encourage a loved one to go to war. Do you believe in the cause enough you’re willing to die or watch that loved one die? Or will you side with remembrance of the joy of universal peace. Are you willing to compromise and support peace before war? And if you have had to fight or if you’ve had to send off a loved one, than you should know the joys of peace better than any, and proclaim the truth of Armistice Day.

“Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”

–General Dwight Eisenhower 

“I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.”

–General Dwight Eisenhower

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.” 

–General Dwight Eisenhower