Published May 26, 2007
IN THEORY
The War & Memorial Day: A Message
| Q: |
With Memorial Day upon us, we are a nation at war. If you could give a Memorial Day message, what would it be?
| A: |
For several months I’ve found it difficult to respond regularly to the questions of this column precisely because we are a nation at war. As a clergyman, it is hard to imagine anything else worth discussing while such a major insult to human life takes place.
This message is not about the events in Iraq alone, but more about the seeming inevitability of war in our lives. As intelligent and rational human beings, as people with advances in technology as well as the human spirit, the idea that we solve our problems by killing and annihilating one another seems absurd. It’s even ironic how we are convinced that the road to peace is paved with weaponry. When Jesus tells his apostles to put away their swords he gives us the ultimate pro-life axiom, “...for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) Hatred begets hatred, violence begets violence and war..., well, it just goes to follow that it does not bring peace.
As clergy, especially as people of faith, we must work for systems that bring about peace even in the most violent settings. True Christianity is a call to look for reconciliation with one another, be it with our friends, within our families or on the world stage between nations.
On this Memorial Day, my thoughts and prayers go out to "all the brave soldiers who will never get older" (CSNY). May their memory and their lasting courage remind us that freedom comes with a cost. We are forever grateful for their sacrifice. At the same time, may we be moved by their deaths, to seek new means by which to pay off the cost of freedom. Through dialog, compassion, understanding and all the resources that we are endowed with, we can make a world where the absurdity of war will translate into its obsolescence.
Fr. Vazken Movsesian
Armenian Church
In His Shoes Mission
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