One of my all-time favorite lyrics, from Neil Young's "Hippie Dream." Besides its self-deprecating nature, I love the conundrum: If his advice is not to listen to him, does that mean we should listen to him, since then we're not taking his advice? But if we listen to him, aren't we taking his advice? Like so many things, it leaves me confused.
For instance, I'm confused about how to feel about Memorial Day, the day on which I write this. Obviously, we've all been touched by war in one way or another, even if it's only empathic, heeding John Donne's "No man is an island" sermon. More likely, though, it's closer than that; we all have or have had relatives, forebears, friends, acquaintances, etc. who have served in the Armed Forces, perhaps even paying, as they say, "the ultimate sacrifice." As with alcoholism, I would submit that there is no family that has been untouched by the military. Let us not forget we live in, arguably, the most militaristic country in the world. We sell heroism and patriotism like psychological candy to our youngest, most impressionable, and I'll be goddamned if they don't keep buying.
I also understand that it's heretical to criticize people for serving. They or their loved ones understandably become upset by any hint of anything less than total support and respect especially, again, those who have had people close to them killed or wounded. Nonetheless I'm gonna plunge fully into the HereSea and fall back on a poster popular in the 1960's: "What If They Gave A War And Nobody Came?"
World War II has come to be seen as a "Good War," as the threat posed by Hitler, et. al. could have been near-permanently world-changing. It surely was world-changing for 6 million Jews and their families, the effects of which continue to ripple outward. So, for the sake of argument we'll consider that one okay. But, in my lifetime, more than 150,000 American service people have died for no good reason in Korea, Vietnam and its neighbors, The Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan. That's just Americans, and just military personnel. The toll worldwide, of both military and civilian casualties, has to be simply staggering, if it could even be figured.
As I write this I think primarily of my friend Mike, who has served in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Africa as a medic, as head of all medical facilities in those theaters, and think of the horrors he has seen and dealt with, not just with American troops or even enemy troops American medics have aided, but with the total innocents, the old people and children who have had the misfortune to live in the midst of places in which we see fit to wage war. I salute Mike and all those like him who have risked their lives ministering to those in harm's way, and apologize yet again to him for not being able to write the sort of piece he'd like me to, something way more up and happy. I guess I feel that the happy stuff is there to see without thinking, while, if we could change some of the less happy aspects of life, we might all be happier yet.
On this Memorial Day, then, I do not wish to celebrate the dead, but to hope for the day when we can stop the killing, when people the world over see through the phony sales pitch of "Patriotism, Nationalism, For God And Country" and say "NO!" to their service, have the strength not to pick up weapons of destruction, so that we can measure heroic deeds by a different yardstick, by acts of healing, not of violence. And there's this week's Hippie Dream.
Songs of peace this week:
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) George Harrison
Love, Peace And Happiness Chambers Brothers
Peace Chet Baker
Peace And Love Neil Young
Peace In Mind Joan Armatrading
Peace Like A River Paul Simon
Peace March Bruce Cockburn
Peace On Earth Railroad Earth
Peace On Earth U2
We Got To Have Peace Curtis Mayfield
I Wish You Peace Eagles
Peace Tommy Flanagan
Peace Malo
Peace Among Nations Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi
Peace Train Cat Stevens
Peace, Perfect Peace Toots & The Maytals
Pipes Of Peace Paul McCartney
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding? Elvis Costello
Work For Peace Gil Scott-Heron
Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms) Joni Mitchell
The Torn Flag John Trudell
Where Have All The Flowers Gone? John Stewart
Universal Soldier Donovan
Find The Cost Of Freedom Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
War Bob Marley & The Wailers
Hippie Dream Neil Young
Tuesday, noon till two on 91.5 FM, wool.fm on the webs. See you there.
"He's the Universal Soldier, and he really is to blame...."
Thanks for putting this out there Mark. Very eloquent. Very sane. And all the same, there's always, now & forever more, all that misdirected testosterone bubbling through the culture, waiting, eagerly, to be harnessed by the demagogue(s) of the hour. Obviously, I'm not sanguine or a bit hopeful about the possibility of change here. Killing one another, & worse, seems to be what we do. Sort of our species-specific specialty. Sometimes I think maybe a little more buddhism might help, but then I take a look at what's going on in Thailand & Myanmar & I think: nah, just another fantasy. Memorial Day is a time to honor & mourn, but mostly mourn. Auden nailed it when he wrote, in 1939, "We must love one another or die." There's been a whole lot dying since then. -Jeff-
ReplyDelete