Last night I happened upon a television program on HDNet in which singer John Mellencamp was visiting Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. He was shown making his way through some of the wards populated by amputees and other wounded veterans of the war in Iraq.
One of the soldier-patients handed John a guitar and asked him to autograph it, which he graciously did. Then, the soldier began strumming one of the guitar licks from a Mellencamp song, and he and John sang a verse or two together. Naturally, everyone else in the ward stopped what they were doing to listen.
The second portion of the program was a live feed of a concert presented by Mellencamp and his band in an auditorium on the Walter Reed campus. I noticed that almost all of John's songs made some reference to life in America. Clearly, it is an important theme in his song-writing.
John made a statement during the program about supporting the troops even as he opposes the war, and his presence among the folks at Walter Reed appeared to bring them pleasure. Everyone there loved their country.
When I was working for the Friends, planning seminar programs for students of all ages wanting to learn about social and political issues, I sometimes arranged for the groups to have a discussion with Colman McCarthy, then a syndicated columnist with the Washington Post.
Colman was a bike-riding vegetarian, referred to by some critics as a “mad-dog liberal.” In addition to his journalistic work, Colman taught courses on peace and peacemaking at a local high school and offered a curriculum on peace through an institute he founded.
He always would list names of historical figures to see whether students recognized them. One list included names such as Robert E. Lee, George Washington, and George Patton, all of whom the students recognized as military leaders.
The other list was Dorothy Day, Jeanette Rankin and others he termed as peacemakers. Few, if any, students ever recognized their names, which, of course, was the point he wanted to make. “How can we have peace in the world if we never teach young people about peace? Why does history always have to be about wars and violence?” were his plaintive mantras.
Colman always told the students about Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress. Actually, she was elected twice, decades apart, taking office in her initial term four days before the vote pertaining to U.S. involvement in World War I. She voted no, which Colman suggested led to her serving only one term that time around.
Years later Ms. Rankin again won a seat in Congress, just as World War II was heating up. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was in position once again to vote on U.S. participation in war. Remaining consistent, she voted no a second time, and as Colman told the story, Jeanette Rankin reported back home, “The boys are at it again!”
Well, we've been at it again for several years. There never was a rationale for this war that made sense to me. Young people who love their country (or who have few, if any, other options for earning a living) have been traumatized, wounded, maimed or killed. They have been told to do these same things to other people.
The benefits of the war seem to me limited to those who richly profit from war making.
I respect John Mellencamp's desire to bring a little joy into the lives of those who have made dramatic sacrifices. I am aware that people sometimes applaud for soldiers when they see them in airports coming and going. I resonate with Colman McCarthy when he asks why we don't teach our youth about peace and peacemakers.
Imagining a world where none of that is necessary seems pointless. Is this the reason why the church is largely silent?