A Peace of My Mind

Peace has been on my mind a lot lately. I was struck by a comment David Letterman made the other night when the topic turned to his son Harry. It was something along the lines of how hard it is to think about war when you love your children.

It made me realize that my own son is about the age I was when the United States went to war in Southeast Asia. The thing I remember about the ten years that followed is every time I watched television, read a newspaper or magazine, listened to the radio, or even talked to people the war was on. It permeated every aspect of life with the specter of horrific death on a grand scale. Supposedly, that ended over 30 years ago. I think about it every day.

Thankfully, my son is too young to go to war. But, I wonder about how the news of Middle East wars dominate his days. Just like the Southeast Asian conflict, there is no sensible answer to what it’s all about. The current thinking seems to be the tar baby paradigm. We’re just bogged down with no clear way out. Sounds familiar.

Would it be such a bad world if there were no wars to fight? We walk around like we’re the most intelligent beings to ever rule the planet. Yet, we expect different results as we initiate the same kind of ill considered military actions that failed before. Our own stupidity is as much a threat to our security and prosperity as any foreign enemy. How long will our nation survive if we don’t wise up?

Peace is not a heroic vision of glory. There’s not much romantic Spartan adventure involved. The payoff is a day we can look at our children and not feel a chill up the spine. I really don’t think it will happen in my time. But like the bumper sticker says, sometimes I “Visualize World Peace.” Would it be such a bad thing?

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