Author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
“War itself is, of course, a form of madness. It’s hardly a civilized pursuit. It’s amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how to achieve peace.”
–Walter Cronkite
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in looking for a parallel to war in the Natural world; and finding none, concludes that the most advanced evolutionary species long ago made a U-turn and is headed back to the caves, having been evicted by the trees as unworthy and impossible.
The keeper, conditioned to view his participation in war—Korea, as a culturally laudable thing, now wonders at his satisfaction in watching napalm engulf a hill across the valley where “the enemy” was tunneled in, or in cheering the direct hits of artillery he helped to direct from a hilltop observation post.
How had his doughy youthful mind been baked in the money-stoked oven of the Military Industrial Complex until it developed an appetite for killing and burning to death the innocent young men of another country?
The keeper has gone along with all of it—the killing, the veteran opportunities, the uniform in the closet, and down to the “Honor Flight,” all things that convince the young that killing strangers is good and honorable.
He volunteered to do it all, so there was not the slightest thought about burning a draft card to protest. Now the keeper has a Veterans ID card. Should he burn that? Probably not so long as the staff at the VA hospital eye clinic is successfully treating his macular degeneration.
Brilliant blog, Bill. You’re right on all accounts including the eye treatment opportunity. Which puts us in a bit of a stew I think as long as there is a seriously deranged bad actor with his finger on the kill button.
You’re right, Neal. I think back to when I was a kid and we used to play “War” all the time. The glamorization of regimented murder is deeply ingrained; unfortunately, I think it’s part of the human condition.