There are too many soldiers fighting in too many places to name. And there are too many families who miss these soldiers and too many families who grieve those who have died. Our soldiers fight soldiers of other families who miss and grieve. And round and round it turns.
On this Memorial Day, I’d like to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry to every soldier who willingly sacrifices in the name of those they love and in the name of strangers like me. I’m sorry that I am a peacemaker who has yet to figure out how to end wars. Lots of peacemakers will tell you as a soldier that you are wrong… that you are wrong for bearing arms, for killing others, for trying to evoke peace by making war. But this language, this ~ you are wrong and I am right mentality~ is how wars begin. And, I’m sorry we’ve yet to figure this out.
We know how to do war. We’ve done it over and over and over again. What we just don’t know how to do is peace. It seems the ‘bad guys’ always provoke us to fight. When it comes to protecting those we love and places we love, we ultimately just have to be stronger and carry the biggest sticks. It’s what we’ve done since caveman days. Some will say that it works, and indeed, America is still a land of the free. But we’re not truly free because our children die in military uniforms long before their rightful time. We’re not truly free, because we are slaves to war, lost because we’ve yet to end all wars. We’re not truly free, because there is blood on our hands just as much as there is blood on theirs.
And I am sorry. My heart breaks that you are there doing what you believe in… in the best ways, the most honorable ways you know how… and people dismiss you and disrespect you because your paths to peace seem not so peaceful. It is hard to understand how the Good Book tells us over and over again not to kill… and yet we do so… with guns, with words, with every division we support. We are all guilty of perpetuating divisions.
And so tonight, as I go to bed without fear, as I go to sleep free to live the life I choose and love the God I choose to love, I will pray for all of us this Memorial Day week-end. I will pray that we might remember we all come into the world the same way and that one day each of us will pass to another life. I will pray that we might remember we’re all covered in skin, we all walk beneath a heavenly sky, we all dream, we all love. And indeed, we all yearn for peace to prevail. I don’t want to fight about fighting. I don’t want to fight about peace. I simply want to love to encourage more loving. I want to let you know that I’m trying to learn how I contribute to the causes of violence and war and that in my learning, something begins to yield, something begins to aid in the healing of what has long been broken. I pray for every peacemaker and for every soldier who lay down their lives in order for another one to live. I pray that peace imbues every heart and teaches us the way. My hand is on the heart beneath the uniform, the heart beneath the tie-dyed shirt, the heart beneath all fear and anger and retaliation. And as I place my hand upon my own heart, I pray we all meet one another here… in this place, this place of deep knowing and divine loving. May this be the memorial we leave to the coming years.
On this Memorial Day, I’d like to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry to every soldier who willingly sacrifices in the name of those they love and in the name of strangers like me. I’m sorry that I am a peacemaker who has yet to figure out how to end wars. Lots of peacemakers will tell you as a soldier that you are wrong… that you are wrong for bearing arms, for killing others, for trying to evoke peace by making war. But this language, this ~ you are wrong and I am right mentality~ is how wars begin. And, I’m sorry we’ve yet to figure this out.
We know how to do war. We’ve done it over and over and over again. What we just don’t know how to do is peace. It seems the ‘bad guys’ always provoke us to fight. When it comes to protecting those we love and places we love, we ultimately just have to be stronger and carry the biggest sticks. It’s what we’ve done since caveman days. Some will say that it works, and indeed, America is still a land of the free. But we’re not truly free because our children die in military uniforms long before their rightful time. We’re not truly free, because we are slaves to war, lost because we’ve yet to end all wars. We’re not truly free, because there is blood on our hands just as much as there is blood on theirs.
And I am sorry. My heart breaks that you are there doing what you believe in… in the best ways, the most honorable ways you know how… and people dismiss you and disrespect you because your paths to peace seem not so peaceful. It is hard to understand how the Good Book tells us over and over again not to kill… and yet we do so… with guns, with words, with every division we support. We are all guilty of perpetuating divisions.
And so tonight, as I go to bed without fear, as I go to sleep free to live the life I choose and love the God I choose to love, I will pray for all of us this Memorial Day week-end. I will pray that we might remember we all come into the world the same way and that one day each of us will pass to another life. I will pray that we might remember we’re all covered in skin, we all walk beneath a heavenly sky, we all dream, we all love. And indeed, we all yearn for peace to prevail. I don’t want to fight about fighting. I don’t want to fight about peace. I simply want to love to encourage more loving. I want to let you know that I’m trying to learn how I contribute to the causes of violence and war and that in my learning, something begins to yield, something begins to aid in the healing of what has long been broken. I pray for every peacemaker and for every soldier who lay down their lives in order for another one to live. I pray that peace imbues every heart and teaches us the way. My hand is on the heart beneath the uniform, the heart beneath the tie-dyed shirt, the heart beneath all fear and anger and retaliation. And as I place my hand upon my own heart, I pray we all meet one another here… in this place, this place of deep knowing and divine loving. May this be the memorial we leave to the coming years.
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