Back in the days of shock and
awe
We came to liberate them all
History was the cruel judge of
overconfidence
Back in the days of shock and
awe
--Neil Young
Neil Young’s “Living with War,” album blared from our car’s CD
player. Anti-war lyrics backed with drums, choir, and rock guitar.
My husband Steve was groovin’. “This is the way music used to be,”
he said. “This was mainstream in my day.”
Neil Young (of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young fame) had just released
his take on the war in Iraq and war in general. The songs ran the gamut
from social critique (“Restless Consumer”), to a poignant tribute to a
friend who died in Vietnam (“Roger and Out”), to pointed political
criticism (“Let’s Impeach the President”). The CD ended with a
100-voice choir singing “America the Beautiful.”
It was fitting that this music was the soundtrack as we drove to the
hospital. Our friend Marsha, a long-time peace activist, lay in the ICU.
Marsha has stood with the Women in Black, handed out anti-war leaflets in
front of churches and schools, and helped the homeless register to vote.
She is a constant and uncompromising voice for peace. When people at
our parish say, “Yes, but we don’t want to offend anyone,” she says,
“Jesus didn’t worry about offending people.”
We found her alert but unable to speak due to the tubes in her throat.
She motioned for a white board. “Tell everyone I am at peace,” she
wrote, “but I want to get out of here and have some fun.”
That afternoon, I picked up Lucas and Gabe at school, peace music still
playing.
“Is that Daddy’s new CD?” Gabe asked. “Cool.”
They huddled over the lyrics.
“Do you know what he means by shock and awe?” I asked. “When the
war started, the first bombings were called shock and awe. Remember?”
They shrugged.
We’d been at this war so long they couldn’t remember the beginning.
That bothered me. It was too much like Vietnam had been to me as a
child--a war with no beginning and no end.
I thought back to a column I wrote more than three years ago, before
the invasion of Iraq. In “Giving Peace a Chance,” I described taking
the boys to a peace vigil at Green Lake. Joining with Catholic nuns,
Quaker activists, and Buddhist monks, we waved our No Iraq War signs and
stood and prayed for peace.
“As Christians, we’re called to be peacemakers,” I wrote. “As
citizens, we have the privilege and responsibility to speak up for what we
believe.”
In that liberal Seattle neighborhood, we got mostly thumbs up and peace
signs from the people who drove by.
But to my surprise, when the column was published, I got email from
people who said I was unpatriotic and un-Christian and certainly didn’t
belong in a Catholic newspaper.
What do those people think today? Have they changed their minds?
Much of the country has. Back in March 2003, three-quarters of
Americans supported the invasion of Iraq. But now, after the deaths of
more than 2,400 U.S. soldiers and a cost of $170 billion--not to mention
the fact that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and no
ties to the Sept. 11 attack--that support has dwindled.
Today nearly 60 percent say the war was a mistake.
Thousands of children
scarred for life
Millions of tears for a soldier’s
wife
Both sides are losing now.
Heaven takes them in
Thousands of children scarred
for life
The CD rolled on. Daddy’s music. Marsha’s voice. May they never be
silenced.
© 2006 Christine Dubois
Want to
make a comment on this week's column? Send your thoughts to:
chris@chriscolumn.com.
Last week's column
