Remembering…

Today, war seams to permeate our daily lives.  War on drugs.  War against illegals.  War for the sake of radical religious fanaticism (ongoing for centuries in the Middle East, IMHO).  War against the spread of communism (ongoing since my grade school years and before).  That was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis: 

War: the pursuit of political goals by other means.

Carl von Clausewitz                       

I never served in the military.  I was fearful.  I remember.  My early adulthood was a time of social upheaval across the country.  It was the era of the Viet Nam War.  Presumably a war combating the “Domino Theory”.  It was the last period when we had military conscription, aka “the draft”.  (My draft number in 1971 was 271.  I remember.)

Today it’s ISIS; Tren de Aragua; Russia (still); China; the Panama Canal; the Arctic Circle; Canada!  We still face continuous nuclear bomb threats.  It’s the application of “advanced” science that Douglas Rushkoff spoke of:

Whereas the original Renaissance gave us the ability to circumnavigate the globe, out current one gives us the ability to blow it up.

Monday is Memorial Day.  A day that enables us to remember; to pause; to honor the men and women of our military; especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice:

Then Tuesday, we will return to work; return to our world problems; return to war.  Will our country ever remember peace?  I wonder if we’re even trying given Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address warning against the establishment of a "military-industrial complex."  Sixty four years later and we’re still producing abundant war materiel.

America was founded by cultures of diversity wanting to live together - united.  Today, we have our differences and there is plenty of strife.  Even so, Americans have much to remember in the pursuit of a more perfect union.  Thankfully:

In every community, there is work to be done. 

  In every nation, there are wounds to heal.

    In every heart, there is the power to do it.

Marianne Williamson

Yes Marianne, “In every heart, there is the power to do it!”  We Americans can.  I just hope we remember how.

GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.