The War Prayer

Whenever I think of war lately, I think of Mark Twain's "The War Prayer." While I am all one of seeking vengeance upon those who wrong us, or threaten us, we must temper our vengeance with what that threat entails. For it is not the people of North Korea who are the ones threatening us, it is their deluded leaders who have indoctrinated their population over the decades to hate us. I pray God they find peace in their hearts to know the love that we might share with them.

If we pray to our religion of patriotism, the idols of liberty, the pantheon of our leaders and those who have sacrificed so that we might enjoy freedom, we must remember that we ourselves visit horror upon those we wreak our bloody vengeance upon. It we are attacked, then sure, visit the same upon our enemies. But what if we get it wrong, or we only attack those who, in a fit of political expediency, are the enemies of the moment, the victims of propaganda. Bloody vengeance must be tempered with the thoughts of what vengeance entails, our war prayers answered.

Our soldiers survive the war, but are forever haunted by the horrors they have been commissioned by our patriots to inflict on our foes. They come back victorious, but still beaten, bloodied, limbless, wrecked of mind and body, forever victim of that which they participated in. They fight not for us, but for themselves, to stay alive in the cesspool we have placed them in. We should pray here, to give them strength to face the pain they are about to inflict, face the children who show them love, help them to tell friend from foe and that our politicians understand that someday they will have to come home and live in a world where there are no foes. We pray that they purge the vengeance from their hearts and ours and know peace.

Amen.