As often happens when I see a good movie or experience some other well-done artistic effort, my thoughts took off on a tangent after viewing Denzel Washington’s “A Journal for Jordan.” A romance featuring a Black couple and her family, it fully succeeded in jerking some tears from me, as well as providing a portrait of Black, military, family life and how wonderfully “normal” and “American” that can be.
But the scene that sent my mind down a long, winding road was one near the end at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Even the big screen couldn’t communicate its vast expanses, an area equal to a full square mile after starting at a third of that during the Civil War. I will never forget a visit years ago when I stared down the endless, perfect rows of identical headstones (more than 400,000 today), literally stretching farther than my eyes could see, and trying to imagine the pain and loss created by each death.
The movie sparked an emotional moment which reaffirmed my belief in the futility and waste of war. Even World War II, necessary to protect our country from madmen, was a colossal waste for Germany and Japan, the end of their dreams of worldwide domination resulting in the utter destruction of their landscape, social and economic infrastructure, and several generations of their people.
As I continued thinking about the continuing existence of wars and the threat of wars today, I wondered if there had been any years in human history when there wasn’t a war. Researchers believe less than 1 year in every 13 has been without war over 3,500 years of recorded history. Somehow, war in our world is the norm, not the exception.
Are there ever winners? Certainly not civilians who account for about two-thirds of all war casualties. Even long-running empires (Rome, Ottoman, ancient China, Great Britain, etc.) are now left in the dust, the great sacrifice of the soldiers who fought to establish and overthrow them forgotten.
I don’t think this pursuit of self-destruction through war is universal in individuals. Not all people are inclined to be warlike, but somehow the leaders we have chosen or those who have forced their way into power are: they are supremely ready to rattle the sabers or actually draw them, especially in modern times when the decision makers don’t risk their personal safety, but are glad to use volunteers or conscripts to fight and die.
I’ve lived through the decades when Arlington and other cemeteries continued to be filled by veterans of Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. As I thought about this reality in modern America, I couldn’t help but see this societal impulse towards self-destruction in two other major issues of the day. They are both American and global.
In doing all they can to avoid COVID vaccination and prevention (through masks, etc.), a large part of our American population, and many around the world, are embracing their right to die if they choose (except when finally in the ICU) and to risk others along the way. Nationally, more than twice the number of Americans have died from COVID as those buried in Arlington. Anywhere from “some” to “many” of those deaths could have been prevented, along with the pain and suffering that always ride alongside.
The other issue has been longer in the making, but may be even more deadly in the long run. We’ve been warned for decades about actions that are destructive to our environment, from “Silent Spring” in the 1960s, EPA warnings about smog and air quality in the 1970s and ’80s, watching damage to forests and more from acid rain, to the international affirmation of global warming and climate change more recently. Yet American and global leaders have continued the self-destructive actions of the past, until today, our environment threatens us, rather than the other way around.
I know there are millions, even billions, of people around the world who would choose other approaches to international problems such as wars, pandemics, and a climate crisis. I believe most politicians worldwide would see themselves as seeking alternatives to actions that take us down the road to destruction, even if the ultimate results of their actions don’t show it. Somehow, we need to find leaders in America, and support those around the world, that can find other ways to react to world crises rather than perpetuate history’s self-destructive mistakes.
Allen Woods is a freelance writer, author of the Revolutionary-era crime novel “The Sword and Scabbard,” and Greenfield resident. His column appears regularly on a Saturday. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.