War is not the answer…
Over the next several months, The Carillon will feature a series of articles exploring what it means to become a Just Peace Congregation. In this installment, the Rev. Alice O’Donovan ponders peacemaking, asking, “If war is not the answer, what is the question?”
In September 1953 I entered fifth grade in a new town in a new state in a school that was new to me. Two opportunities eased all that newness. One, I had the opportunity to fulfill a little girl’s dream: riding lessons every week. Two, I was able to join the Girl Scouts.
Then as now, the Girl Scouts are part of the annual Memorial Day parade. Memorial Day in Ashfield, Massachusetts has changed little since my first parade in 1954. It is an event that gathers more current and past Ashfield residents than any other. It begins with an assembly and ceremonies in front of the Town Hall. There is a prayer of invocation, musical selections, poetry readings, and the posting of the colors. There is a town band, a choral group, and more.
After the exercises, the parade forms, and the march to the cemetery begins. Youth groups, such as Little League, 4-H, Boy and Girl Scouts, are prominent, along the with the Select Board, the honor guard, the town police and fire personnel, and the Chaplain of the parade.
The parade stops first at the Veterans’ Memorial. There is another time for prayer, an address by a local dignitary (often an outstanding student), and the veterans’ graves are decorated with sprays of lilacs. The parade then proceeds through the cemetery to the Civil War Memorial for more musical selections, the reading of the Gettysburg Address, and a benediction. Finally the parade returns to the town center and disbands until the next Memorial Day.
I am one of several town alumni who have become ordained ministers. Every so many years, I am invited to take my turn as the Chaplain, offering the prayers and marching in the parade right behind the Select Board.
I’ve attended most if not all of the 60-plus Memorial Day Observances since my first in 1954, and hope to continue for some years to come. Attendance, plus the chaplaincy role, lead me to reflect not only on the remembrance of veterans and their service, but also on the role and necessity of our armed forces, and our world in a time when we have the capacity for a nuclear holocaust that will end civilization as we know it. Rather than delivering a long address, I take the opportunity to conduct prayerful question-and-answer sessions such as this one:
- What is the point of this clearly beloved annual ritual?
- The point is to remember that our ways of life, especially our freedoms, have been purchased at the uncountable and spiraling cost of thousands upon millions of human lives.
Q. And the purpose of this remembering?
A: The purpose of this remembering is to do everything in our power to create a world in which human lives are not sacrificed in war, but rather are lived to contribute to the just and common good for all the world, that is, to create Just Peace.
Q: Since these veterans died “in service” to the nation, how are we, the living, doing at making a nation and a world at peace, a nation and a world that is just for all people? Are we living lives that are worthy of those who have died?
How are we doing at fulfilling the ideals for which these deceased veterans lived and died?
A: Honestly??? Not well.
Q: Do we still need military forces in our country?
A: Unfortunately, yes. We as a nation still need well-prepared, well-equipped military forces ready to fight, that is, to kill people of other nations.
Q: It has been said, “War is not the answer.” What are the questions for which “war is not the answer?”
A: Those questions are, “How shall we all get along? How shall we create a world where differences are respected, resources equitably shared, people encouraged to grow and live good, productive, hopeful lives?”
War is not the appropriate response to any of these questions. Our best hope is to persist in asking them—as together we search for a better answer.
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