A Marvelous Victory

In 1972 the United States was at war with Vietnam. 


That same year, a man named Brian wrote a letter. He sent it to Verona, Italy - where the secretaries of Juliet reside. Juliet, as in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. 


It would be his last letter. And this is what he wrote:

Dear Juliet, 

I am in a bunker. Outside I hear missiles exploding, bullets being fired. I am twenty-two years old and I'm scared. Our commander has told us that soon we must come out. A hand-to-hand battle awaits us. I feel I will die. I leave life with this brief note. I am entrusting it to you, symbol of universal love. I delude myself by thinking it will make people understand the futility of hate. 

Brian L. 

War is hell. Movies and politicians may try and make us believe otherwise: but even this twenty- two year old understood that hate, in whatever form it may take, is hell. 

I will not exclude Christians from this equation. We're all aware of the hell crusaders and inquisitors brought to the world. Not to mention abortion clinic bombers and the like... 


In the medieval era up until today, war supporters point to the violent battles of the Old Testament as God's stamp of approval for war: Or "Just War" as it has been referred to. 

God, they say, uses all sorts of means to bring about a "just" end. This is how many of the Israelites felt when Jesus came on the scene. Violent revolutionaries such as the Maccabees had returned the Jewish people to power once before. So naturally many people, including the Roman authorities, thought Jesus was going to be a new violent revolutionary. Turned out, he was only one of those things. 

"The Jesus we claim as Lord came to us in the form of a servant, taught an ethic of vulnerability and compassion, and allowed himself to be killed rather than to take up the sword and defend the truth with violence.”  (Choosing Against War: A Christian View, John D. Roth) 

Notwithstanding, leaders still invoke God's approval of their cause; wether they be jihadists, or right wing conservatives. Truth is, God calls us all his children. How then could He be for some and against others? 

Who has the authority to make that judgement anyway? 


Some would say our secular authority figures. Presidents, dictators, the media and wealthy elites, still decide who dies, and why. Knowledge is power after all. And the powerful are seen as holders of the knowledge.  

Professor and Historian Howard Zinn said this, "If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves."

After seeing the horrors of WWI, Erich Maria Remarque wrote All Quiet On The Western Front: a book about the experiences of a german solider during the war. It is one of the first times war was written from the perspective of someone in the trenches. In the first chapter, his main character Paul Bäume reflects: 

"The wisest were just the poor and simple people. They knew the war to be a misfortune, whereas those who were better off, and should have been able to see more clearly what the consequences would be, were beside themselves with joy. Katczinsky said that was a result of their upbringing. It made them stupid."  (Remarque, pg. 11)

This passage illustrates an old saying: "war is old men talking, and young men dying." 

The biggest problem, is these young men die believing in a future hope of peace, or freedom, or some other desirable end. But history has proven violence only perpetuates violence.

There has never been a final war, and there never will be as long as we keep using war as a means to solve disputes. It's the myth of redemptive violence: which says that hurting the people who hurt me, will end the cycle.

I don't presume to know the answer when genocide is involved. All I can say is as human beings we're more creative than destructive. We can come up with new ways to diffuse conflict. We can stop being reactionary and fearful. As John F. Kennedy famously said, "The only thing to fear is fear itself." Meaning don't believe fear mongering! Don't believe it when someone tells you you're not safe unless you take away someone else's safety. 

We must remember we are a resurrection community. We know all people, all situations, all things in heaven and on earth are being redeemed. So we look for signs of a new creation; pointing out God's redemptive work to others. Nothing has to stay how it was. We must act in hope. 

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” -Howard Zinn