THE ELEVENTH OF EVERYTHING
Friday, November 11, 2022
There is no magic in war, no romance, no triumph – everyone loses, and every battle destroys something on both sides of a conflict. History records both truths and lies, but no account of any fight over territory or the minds of people – however short – leaves scars on landscapes and bodies in graves.
There is, in death, no difference between combatant corpses and civilian ones because bombs, bullets and every manifestation of any war machine kill. The first casualty of conflict is the truth – but it never bleeds, it fools some fools for a while, but in the end, now more than at any time in human history, we have improved our capacity to know things quickly, in real-time. But immediacy doesn’t convert lies to truth or prevent deaths.
If humankind were as quick to do kindness and good deeds as we are to anger and to engage in conflict, this world would have eliminated one less threat – the worst threat. But it seems our zeal to discover cures for diseases, kill bad ideas, support and champion achievement, celebrity, wealth, and #trending, we have not made similar contributions to peace in the world.
This year, the Conference of The Parties are gathered for the 27th time (COP27) to negotiate progress among nations as slowing climate change and changing practices; their work heralds progress and chastises the slow adopters of new processes. Good, keep it up, but while well-meaning people work toward a safer planet, the world watches while wars continue in small and large ways in many places. The largest is Russia v. Ukraine, but that isn’t the only blood being spilled daily. Turf wars of every kind you can imagine among drug gangs in our cities, coups in small below-the-fold places we can’t pronounce, are killing on purpose. You might argue that the planet is safer than it has ever been, that diseases (COVID among them), addictions and self-inflicted deaths caused by smoking, drug and alcohol use and poor lifestyle choices kill many people too – and you would be right.
Earth is a complicated place.
We can move hearts, money, knowledge, entertainment and exploration around the planet and deep into space – our quest for discovery is insatiable. Every year babies begin their path to intellectual heights we never imagined a few decades ago because we are smart.
But we can’t unexplode a bomb or un-shoot a bullet.
Warfare is humanity in action – never humane, ever deadly, and not enough of us are peacemongers, but we should be. Most of us spend a few minutes each year on this day remembering those who served our country. Those who died. Those who left limbs and blood on foreign shores but lived to come home.
Loses on both sides of conflicts, never small – ones we call collateral damage, a term that demeans their sacrifices, their only offence being citizens/residents of wonderful places that became a battlefield. Their losses, as great as any army – the loss of life, destruction of property, cost of lost opportunities and the killing of hope in so many …
Still, our species is too slow to change; every time we say “lest we forget,” it is as if those words, rows of crosses, poppies, wreathes, and military salutes at the site of war memorials do so little. Yet we still remember to stop, to be sure we remember what the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – the magic of the Treaty of Versailles, the promise to stop fighting the war to end all wars.
That was a good idea and powerful words, the kind that makes a clever bumper sticker slogan for a while, but reality has taught us that was wishful thinking – because somewhere in the world, someone is always waging war against someone somewhere.
Conflict and battles have never been eliminated, but why can’t we be cooperative enough to resolve them without weapons or threats of using them?
We should aggressively question whether our governments are doing enough of the right things to save every life we otherwise lose because the price is too high.
Bow your head, give thanks – and fear death, fear war, fear a reality where we save our planet but don’t save our species. If recent history can be trusted, the pandemic proved we can, globally, work together with great speed and power to combat an insidious microscopic foe. It should be no less complicated to come together against a foe that has been killing people throughout human history.
It’s about weapons and conflict; it’s about historical narratives and stubborn stupidity akin to Hatfields fighting McCoys. We are so much better than that.