The grim realities of war

Some of my happiest childhood experiences center on my uncle, coming and going to war. His parachute would be hung out on the clothesline to wave in the wind like a flag. My grandmother, his mother, would cook delicious foods and guests would fill up our house to bask in the light of our hero.

Presents were passed out and one of the gifts I received was a beautiful rosewood elephant with pure ivory tusks. “From India”, my uncle said. Perhaps the seed to visit India was planted then. But the seeds of worshipping the military were also sown as well. Like more than half the children of the world, I grew up believing that war was a fact of life and that the military were our saviors.

The Transcendentalist Poets, the Flower Children, the singers of peace songs, and the teachings of The Masters awakened new feelings in me. I could no longer believe in war as a solution for anything. The Living Buddha recently wrote, “Of course, war and the large military establishments are the greatest sources of violence in the world. Whether their purpose is defensive or offensive, these vast powerful organisations exist solely to kill human beings. We should think carefully about the reality of war.”

During the Vietnam War I protested against the futility of what I perceived as slaughter. I was very unpopular and quietly shunned.

His Holiness explained, “Most of us have been conditioned to regard military combat as exciting and glamorous - an opportunity for men to prove their competence and courage. Since armies are legal, we feel that war is acceptable; in general, nobody feels that war is criminal or that accepting it is a criminal attitude. In fact, we have been brainwashed. War is neither glamorous or attractive. It is monstrous. Its very nature is one of tragedy and suffering.”

At least my opinions were shared.  But my rhetoric did not impress many. It was hard to get anti-war material published, even harder to get paid for it.

Today when I read the Dalai Lama’s words, I’m still inspired. “War is like a fire in the human community, one whose fuel is living beings. I find this analogy especially useful and appropriate. Modern warfare is waged primarily with different forms of fire, but we are so conditioned to see it as thrilling that we talk about this or that marvelous weapon as a remarkable piece of technology.”

He confesses, “Frankly, as a child, I too was attracted to the military. Their uniforms looked so smart and beautiful. But that is exactly how the seduction begins. Children start playing games that will one day lead them into trouble. There are plenty of exciting games to play and costumes to wear other than those based on the killing of human beings. Again, if we as adults were not so fascinated by war, we would clearly see that to allow our children to become habituated to war games is extremely unfortunate.”