WE WILL NEVER FORGET

Memorial Day 2010...

This past week I spent a few days working with a group of wonderful people from different churches helping them prepare and then hold a huge garage sale. The proceeds are to go toward assisting the youth of one of the churches attend summer church camp. The sponsoring church is full of many young families and youth of all ages. They have several terrific programs designed to attract and keep the young people.

This Church of the Epicenter also does many other charitable deeds. One of these is sponsoring Hope's Closet. This is open every Saturday for three hours. Anyone may come and get free clothing for their entire family free of charge. All of the clothing is donated by the surrounding communities, much of it of superior quality. The volunteers who work at sorting, sizing and organizing the huge amount of the donations represent many different churches. The building in which it is held has been donated for use also free of charge. It's a very large warehouse type building, with offices at one end where the local Christian Women Job Corps eventually wants to house their organization which trains/retrains women to enter the job force.

I have met so many wonderful, generous, loving people while helping out with these projects. Yesterday I was reminded that even though we of different faiths and backgrounds are bound in common causes, it doesn't necessarily mean we have the same beliefs in everything. I normally attempt to stay away from controversial topics when I am with these folks, but yesterday I got sucked into a conversation that I suppose is topical at this particular time... remembering and honoring our military, past and present.

When I arrived at the garage sale, my friend Frankie introduced me to a clean cut young man who is one of their youth ministers. We chatted a bit, then he said he had to leave to go to ___. It was busy in this place and my hearing is not what it used to be, so I thought he said "go to war"! Ridiculous, I know.. so I asked "where?" When he told me he had to go to work, I laughed and told him what I thought he had said.. and that I was glad I misunderstood him. For some reason, that led into a discussion about war, guns, raising young boys into men who are willing and capable of fighting for their country. In his estimation, boys should be taught at a very early age how to use guns.

Well, the results of this conversation were not to his liking I'm certain, as I could not be moved. He brought up Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I told him of my reading of a book about the A-Bomb and Hiroshima when I was only 12 years old, and how it affected me and made me anti-war, without knowing what that was. How I thought the bomb could have been used in a different manner and we still would have won the war. He was very passionate with his arguments, even bringing in how "we cannot expect to be protected by our local police forces". We went back and forth for at least 10 or 15 minutes. I truly did stay calm, and kept a smile on my face the whole time. But inside, I was shaking and thought about what this young man was trying to justify, and how much influence he and people like him still have on our young boys and men. I feel certain that guns and gun ownership are a big part of what he believes he must teach to them. He asked what I would do if my door were kicked in in the middle of the night! Were there some parts of town that I would be afraid to live in?

I tried to convey to this young man that I do not choose to live my life in fear. I am a strong supporter of our law enforcement agencies, and I appreciate what they do. I am also a strong supporter of our young men and women in the armed forces. (Hate the war, love the warriors!) However, I told him that as long as so many on this earth lived and planned for violence and war, and concentrated their thinking on "enemies" and how they can destroy us, war would continue. That we need to support the peacemakers as well. That our efforts at obtaining world peace should never stop. He was smiling with his lips, but there was anger in his eyes that I could say such things.

I do not understand how so many followers of Christianity can be so war-like. After all, Jesus the Christ was all about peace and loving your enemies. I know it is not that simplistic, but it is a teaching that must be adhered to if we are ever to have peace in the world.

Later in the morning we had a sweet young woman, accompanied by her mother, shopping the garage sale for everything from a sofa/daybed to dishes, lamps, decor, etc. to furnish her first apartment. I asked if she were going off to college or getting married. I was taken aback when her mother said "neither, she's reporting for duty in the military at a base in Georgia". I'm sure the look on my face showed my concern for this innocent young woman, because the mother was quick to tell me she was not to be a warrior, but she had been trained as a translator. She was taught Persian! Of course, that made my concern even greater, as I know this is the language of Iran. I said a little prayer that she would not have to be in some covert operation involving the Iranians up close and personal!

I am going to close this with a beautiful, moving poem I found on the Internet this morning, written by a sergeant in the 104th Infantry Division who served in Europe during World War II. His son found it in his father's basement, and was shocked, as his father never wrote anything else. The son said his father was considered a "tough customer", not seeming to be affected by the war. This was written by James Lenihan about killing a young German soldier.

Murder--So Foul
I shot a man yesterday
And much to my surprise,
The strangest thing happened to me
I began to cry.
He was so young, so very young
And Fear was in his eyes,
He had left his home in Germany
And came to Holland to die.
And what about his Family
were they not praying for him?
Thank God they couldn't see their son
And the man that had murdered him.
I knelt beside him
And held his hand--
I begged his forgiveness
Did he understand?
It was the War
And he was the enemy
If I hadn't shot him
He would have shot me.
I saw he was dying
And I called him "Brother"
But he gasped out one word
And that word was "Mother."
I shot a man yesterday
And much to (my) surprise
A part of me died with Him
When Death came to close
His eyes.

As we pause to honor the courageous young men and women currently serving in our armed forces at home and abroad, as well as to commemorate the lives of those lost in previous wars fought to preserve freedom around the world, let us make a promise to ourselves to spend as much or more time upon thinking about and supporting those who work for Peace on Earth.

Our thoughts are as strong as our prayers.

Blessed are the peacemakers...

Peace and love,

Marilyn