War is death. Nothing more, nothing less.
War is only about death. Death is war’s purpose and its end.
Yesterday, at The Chester County Peace Movement’s memorial peace vigil for the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan War, death was the vigil’s theme; and the reality of that theme hit home.
At the vigil, as usual, the vigilers erected a faux coffin, gravestones, and a pair of empty combat boots by the coffin. We do this every year, usually twice a year (for both wars).
One of the pro-war counterprotestors from across the street purposely walked by on the peace vigil side to say, with great anger and a hatred that was all too apparent, and pointing to the coffin (paraphrasing), “That disgusts me. As the mother of an active-duty military son, that disgusts me.” She, as most pro-war folks usually are, was what we have learned over 9 years of peace vigils to call a “drive-by” verbal abuser. Not a converser, but a verbal abuser (which we have learned to stomach). They either drive or walk by extremely fast shouting angry epithets; then, when we attempt to answer them, they don’t slow down. They never want to talk or engage in rational conversation. Even so, I tried to talk with her, saying, “That is what war is all about - it’s about death.” Her only answer: “You should be demonstrating at Planned Parenthood.”
This scene illustrated all too vividly how wars are continued - by masking the reality of what they are. Every Saturday we see the counterprotestor pro-war “side” waving American flags and singing patriotic songs - never even hinting at what war is all about: Death. They are able to rationalize war by glossing it over with flags and misplaced patriotism. They ignore the dead and mangled bodies, the lives ruined by war, glorifying it so they can rationalize its brutality.
Oh, and by the way: One of our vigilers who did not hear the “drive-by,” and who has been at almost every peace vigil for 9 years, asked this question when she heard of the “drive-by’s” angry words: “What about me? My son is career military and has served for years in Iraq and Afghanistan. What about me and my son?”
Good question.
