Veterans Making Peace
12/16/10

In the major wars since I was a teen, soldiers have taken the lead in making war and making peace. I remember in the 60’s the inspiring leadership of the Vietnam Veterans for Peace in the resistance to the war and the same has holds true for the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yesterday it happened again as military veterans join by other resisters lined up along the fence in front of the White House, some chaining themselves to the fence, and said Stop These Wars Now. 131 were arrested. The action was simple but the message was profound. Pictures of this act of resistance can be found at Civil Resistance at the White House. As Chris Hedges,particpant and war correspondent, said Real Hope is about Doing Something and that these veterans did.

Most of the media, as did the President, ignored this resistance. I did hear a little about it on Public Radio. But as Thomas Merton said to peace activist in the 60’s: ”Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no worth at all, if not perhaps, results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you will start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.”

In making war the results, the victory, the killing is everything. In making peace the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself is everything. Just ask the veterans making peace.

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