The old spiritual called for peace and tranquility in a time of conflict and violence. Before the Civil War, slavery was a terrible, violent injustice upon humans of various races. In America, mention the word slavery and we often associate it with whites enslaving blacks. That is true of course, but not the full story. In fact, over time, there have been just as many whites enslaved as well. The Atlantic Slave Trade of the 16th -19th century was largely violence perpetrated upon Africans and their subsequent offspring. It was horrible and still troubles us to this day. To offer a singular cause for this international brutality is difficult but most settle on economic reasons; the Cotton and Sugar trades for instance. Whatever the reasons, taking a human from their home, putting them in chains, perilous travel across the seas that might kill you, working for men with ungodly power over you and your body, and your family; all these and a thousand other injustices belie the barbarity of it all. The Brits finally put an end to it, for the most part, under the courageous guidance of the likes of William Wilberforce and others. In America, Lincoln hated slavery as well and took the country in a direction it could not fathom or prepare for, and effectively ended slavery as an (corrupt)institution.
But that did not and sadly, could not stop the violence. In fact, I’m not sure we will ever eradicate violence. In order to get rid of all violence, we will have to do a lot of violence to those that do not agree with us. We will have to get rid of their thinking in other words, who cares about their bodies if we can silence their thoughts and ideas. No, sadly, I don’t think that day will ever come on this side of heaven. That might be why the old spirituals sang of heaven as well. Remember Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to take me home. Slaves sang that, knowing that only God could offer full freedom and it would likely be in the next life.
I’ve studied violence all my life it seems because I learned to hate violence before I was a teenager. The stories my father told of WW11 and fascisim, Nazism, and later Communism since he also fought in Korea I was growing up during the Vietnam conflict or war if you wish and the culture of war dared me to try to figure out why so many people, mostly men, were willing to pick up a rifle and a bayonet and end the lives of their enemy. I have never fully understood it, and have comforted myself by thinking that it is impossible to understand it. But try, I did.
Do we need to try to understand violence today? Putting aside the spiritual about studying war, I believe we do. Whether you believe violence is on the rise or not, there is too much of it in our society and world. Some of the most beautiful people I ever served as a pastor were immigrants, refuges really from South Sudan. These young men and women were hunted and harassed by powerful forces in their country and they had the chance to come to America while leaving many of their family members behind. Many were already murdered and in the ground, others still trying to survive in terrible conditions.
When I listened to their stories, all I could do was ache and cry it seems. When my father told stories of prison camps or the Ghettos of Warsaw that were eradicated like vermin, I ached, still do in fact. There is no sense in trying to calculate such consequences, suffice it to say, that hundreds of millions died and still die as a result of this kind of violence but no one has the honest number. It’s just bad beyond belief. I hear that a thousand Russians are dying a day as a result of the Ukrainian resistance. I know next to nothing about either Russians or Ukrainians. I do know that they all breath and act like humans, just like you and me. I can’t express any glee over the losses, even though they attacked their neighbor Ukraine. I could never allow myself to be happy over anyones death I think, at least not common people as most of these soldiers are. If it was someone like Hitler that was killed, I could rethink that of course, but mostly because the death of a Hitler would mean the end of violence is likely near.
It’s never been my job or purpose in life to hate. I have hated and it hasn’t been very effective. Likely, it has been more damaging than good. But as my father taught me, we really did have to go and do violence to the Nazis, Germans if you wish, Japanese and so forth. I’ve tried to lean Pacifistic and sometimes I get very close. But I can’t quite go all the way.
That leaves me with the unpleasant task of studying war. And the naive task or learning enough to prevent wars. I know that’s not going to happen totally, but what if I can prevent violence on a smaller scale? What if I can take my self out of the violence equation somehow? Might that somehow contribute to to a better world with less violence and more peace? I think so. These are a series of complicated ideas and few satisfying answers of course. And none of us have to study the reasons for violence but I find myself engaged in that study because violence is part of our day to day. Next time, I’ll take a look at the list of things that make for violence. After that, I’ll make a stab, no pun intended, at figuring out what are the root cause of violence. I don’t know if I’ll make any convincing headway there but it must be done I believe. So it’s back to studying war again. Wish me luck and good health.