A Stastical Replacement for the Warmth of a Smile
Does anyone with an iota of functioning brain power enjoy thinking about death? How many of those same people relish the idea of war? Does everything we do have to be a fight of some type? Are we now not only bloody minded, but emotionally bloody? Are our hearts so inured to the rush of our own blood within our bodies that we crave the rush of blood out of the bodies of others? Are we no longer capable of realizing what we’ve done to ourselves, to our neighbors, to our children?
A few days ago, the number of American war dead in Iraq hit 2,500. Tony Snow, the president’s (I’ll not give him the honor of a capital ‘P’) new spinning top press secretary callously opined that 2,500 was only a number, but of course, no one ever said that it was important for such a person to be either smart, aware or sensitive – only that he be glib. It is highly doubtful that parents, siblings, husbands, wives or children of those 2,500 human beings ever saw them as just a number, however. Somehow, a statistic can never replace the warmth of a smile or a hug or a kiss or a hope for the future.
We don’t even have a firm number on Iraqi dead, whether innocent or guilty of “insurgency,” another of those strange terms that defy accurate definition, since it could mean local denizens of that particular nation who are rebelling internally or non-Iraqi agitators who are zealously encouraging a blood letting form of defiance for whatever reason. What is the difference in whether the number of Iraqi war dead accrues to Saadam Hussein, or Al-Queada, or Mother Nature, or to the interference or determination of America? Aren’t they still dead? Aren’t’ those once-living souls missed by others who loved them?
We seem to love the idea of war at the same time we deny the reality of so many dead bodies. Were we not infatuated with the many guises and uses of war, why would we have had a War on Poverty during the Johnson administration yet still prefer to ignore the on-going ravages of poverty all these years later? Why would Ronald Reagan have encouraged a War on Drugs sufficient to fill our prisons with drug users rather than major drug pushers and yet still be a drug using society – condemning illegal drugs while simultaneously embracing legal pushers with their television commercials to encourage sales? Do we forget that WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Granada, and so many less formal wars should not even have happened since in the second decade of the 1900’s we had the War to End All Wars?
We are currently conducting three wars: the war in Afghanistan, the training ground, home of the religiously fanatic Taliban and safe harbor for those we believe instigated the attack of 9/11/01 on the World Trade Center and 3,000 innocent civilians; the war in Iraq, now a bloody occupation, which was instigated by greedy and bigoted old men for less than honest reasons; and the misnamed and misleading War on Terror which those same old men have tied directly to Afghanistan and Iraq, ignoring the reality that one cannot make war against a tactic.
During this same period, our leadership has been rattling sabers and voicing strident threats of invasion against Iran for its interest in developing nuclear capability supposedly for energy but possibly for weapons. Meanwhile, our own military industrial developers plan, research and probably execute the creation of more and different nuclear weapons and no one seems willing to contain the spread of such totally destructive capabilities to ‘friendly’ nations, or secure loose nuclear materials left unaccounted for and/or exposed by the massive changes to the former U.S.S.R. Our wild west rhetoric and bowlegged cowboy actions toward North Korea, another historic ‘enemy’ with its own leadership as unpredictable, unscrupulous and fanatic as our own, have been insulting, dangerous and non-productive to what is already a volatile situation.
It is less that comforting to realize that another snit, or moment of unthinking belligerence, or instance of poor judgment or incompetence, or simple human error could put us in two additional wars when our own military resources are at an all time low with poor morale, exhausted troops, and lack of safety resources for them. It would be a historic precedent of unspeakable proportions – five simultaneous wars in six years.
One would think we worship war and long for more death.
The idea of death is at the crux of most of our reasons for doing or saying certain commonplace things. In order to encourage ourselves to do things we fear, we ask what is the worse thing that can happen. Our answer is that we’re dead. We have bumper stickers for our cars that read “Life is a beach. And then you die.” We joke that only death and taxes are inevitable. One of the world’s most lucrative businesses is the life insurance industry, for obvious reasons. Our high school sports teams are encouraged to destroy the opposing team. Business men want to kill off their competition. Wasn’t it the inevitability and fear of death that prompted humankind to create religions that offered an afterlife?
Almost every religion exhorts its adherents that they should not kill. Yet, we seem to ignore that ‘value’ as we rush off to make war. Our military budget is the largest percentage of all our expenditures, and what is the purpose of a military if not to kill. We speak of the death of innocent people, whether in combat or in urban warfare as collateral damage, as though such lives were of no significance. We natter and babble about morality at the same time we teach our young people to hate and kill. We decry terrorists at the same time entertainment box office receipts for movies filled with violence, mayhem and death hit profits in the millions. We condemn animalism at the same time we apply the laws of the jungle whenever it is convenient or expedient, and too often we do so under the false flags of our loudest and most offensive religious factions.
One of our oldest Christian hymns contains the words “death has no sway,” and apparently it has no sway on our emotions or determination to kill those who disagree with us. Death ultimately means little – unless it is the death of our child, of our husband, father, brother, wife, mother. Then it becomes personal. It becomes unforgivable. It should not have been allowed.
One would think that in humankind’s long existence, we would have learned something. We would have improved ourselves and our lot in life, even though we realize our time on this earth is short and eventually we will all die. Yet, by our very actions, we also say that only the deaths that matter to me have importance. If those deaths are not of people I care about, it isn’t death. It’s only a number. It’s merely collateral damage. It’s a statistic.
Praise God. Pass the ammunition. Die, you sucker.
A few days ago, the number of American war dead in Iraq hit 2,500. Tony Snow, the president’s (I’ll not give him the honor of a capital ‘P’) new spinning top press secretary callously opined that 2,500 was only a number, but of course, no one ever said that it was important for such a person to be either smart, aware or sensitive – only that he be glib. It is highly doubtful that parents, siblings, husbands, wives or children of those 2,500 human beings ever saw them as just a number, however. Somehow, a statistic can never replace the warmth of a smile or a hug or a kiss or a hope for the future.
We don’t even have a firm number on Iraqi dead, whether innocent or guilty of “insurgency,” another of those strange terms that defy accurate definition, since it could mean local denizens of that particular nation who are rebelling internally or non-Iraqi agitators who are zealously encouraging a blood letting form of defiance for whatever reason. What is the difference in whether the number of Iraqi war dead accrues to Saadam Hussein, or Al-Queada, or Mother Nature, or to the interference or determination of America? Aren’t they still dead? Aren’t’ those once-living souls missed by others who loved them?
We seem to love the idea of war at the same time we deny the reality of so many dead bodies. Were we not infatuated with the many guises and uses of war, why would we have had a War on Poverty during the Johnson administration yet still prefer to ignore the on-going ravages of poverty all these years later? Why would Ronald Reagan have encouraged a War on Drugs sufficient to fill our prisons with drug users rather than major drug pushers and yet still be a drug using society – condemning illegal drugs while simultaneously embracing legal pushers with their television commercials to encourage sales? Do we forget that WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Granada, and so many less formal wars should not even have happened since in the second decade of the 1900’s we had the War to End All Wars?
We are currently conducting three wars: the war in Afghanistan, the training ground, home of the religiously fanatic Taliban and safe harbor for those we believe instigated the attack of 9/11/01 on the World Trade Center and 3,000 innocent civilians; the war in Iraq, now a bloody occupation, which was instigated by greedy and bigoted old men for less than honest reasons; and the misnamed and misleading War on Terror which those same old men have tied directly to Afghanistan and Iraq, ignoring the reality that one cannot make war against a tactic.
During this same period, our leadership has been rattling sabers and voicing strident threats of invasion against Iran for its interest in developing nuclear capability supposedly for energy but possibly for weapons. Meanwhile, our own military industrial developers plan, research and probably execute the creation of more and different nuclear weapons and no one seems willing to contain the spread of such totally destructive capabilities to ‘friendly’ nations, or secure loose nuclear materials left unaccounted for and/or exposed by the massive changes to the former U.S.S.R. Our wild west rhetoric and bowlegged cowboy actions toward North Korea, another historic ‘enemy’ with its own leadership as unpredictable, unscrupulous and fanatic as our own, have been insulting, dangerous and non-productive to what is already a volatile situation.
It is less that comforting to realize that another snit, or moment of unthinking belligerence, or instance of poor judgment or incompetence, or simple human error could put us in two additional wars when our own military resources are at an all time low with poor morale, exhausted troops, and lack of safety resources for them. It would be a historic precedent of unspeakable proportions – five simultaneous wars in six years.
One would think we worship war and long for more death.
The idea of death is at the crux of most of our reasons for doing or saying certain commonplace things. In order to encourage ourselves to do things we fear, we ask what is the worse thing that can happen. Our answer is that we’re dead. We have bumper stickers for our cars that read “Life is a beach. And then you die.” We joke that only death and taxes are inevitable. One of the world’s most lucrative businesses is the life insurance industry, for obvious reasons. Our high school sports teams are encouraged to destroy the opposing team. Business men want to kill off their competition. Wasn’t it the inevitability and fear of death that prompted humankind to create religions that offered an afterlife?
Almost every religion exhorts its adherents that they should not kill. Yet, we seem to ignore that ‘value’ as we rush off to make war. Our military budget is the largest percentage of all our expenditures, and what is the purpose of a military if not to kill. We speak of the death of innocent people, whether in combat or in urban warfare as collateral damage, as though such lives were of no significance. We natter and babble about morality at the same time we teach our young people to hate and kill. We decry terrorists at the same time entertainment box office receipts for movies filled with violence, mayhem and death hit profits in the millions. We condemn animalism at the same time we apply the laws of the jungle whenever it is convenient or expedient, and too often we do so under the false flags of our loudest and most offensive religious factions.
One of our oldest Christian hymns contains the words “death has no sway,” and apparently it has no sway on our emotions or determination to kill those who disagree with us. Death ultimately means little – unless it is the death of our child, of our husband, father, brother, wife, mother. Then it becomes personal. It becomes unforgivable. It should not have been allowed.
One would think that in humankind’s long existence, we would have learned something. We would have improved ourselves and our lot in life, even though we realize our time on this earth is short and eventually we will all die. Yet, by our very actions, we also say that only the deaths that matter to me have importance. If those deaths are not of people I care about, it isn’t death. It’s only a number. It’s merely collateral damage. It’s a statistic.
Praise God. Pass the ammunition. Die, you sucker.
posted by kaz at 3:46 PM
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