Lest We Forget

Last night I watched a Memorial Day segment on the television program 60 Minutes which left me with very ambiguous feelings. The episode featured U.S. soldiers who had been severely wounded in the conflict in Iraq. It showed how, despite their severe wounds, they were able to return to lives filled with futures, largely through their own pluck and courage.

Though I sympathized with the soldiers’ plights I could in no way share in the kind of soldierly zealotry they displayed toward a war which had robbed them of their limbs and minds. All these individuals, save one, could have served as poster children for the militaristic adventurism of the current administration.

One stated that the conflict in Iraq is justified simply because the President says we have to be there. Another went so far as to say that she believes herself to be a better person after having a major portion of her brain removed. Yet another’s biggest regret about having his left arm blown off by a rocket propelled grenade was the realization that he would have to leave his comrades in arms.

While I think it a great mercy that none of these individuals will face the sort of bleak future of disabled veterans from other conflicts, as portrayed by Georges Grosz in his drawing The Hero, I can’t escape the conviction that this select group of individuals represents the very fortunate few. The lottery winners of veterans, if you will. In the background, away from the cameras, are thousands whose futures are filled with broken marriages, unemployment, and marginalization. For some the future only holds the ward of a VA hospital.

At the end of the program Andy Rooney, whom I respect as a humane and sensible individual, made some obligatory remarks regarding the meaning of Memorial Day. I thought it meet to point out that those whom we memorialize on this day did not give their lives. Rather, their lives were taken from them. No one goes into combat with the intention of dying or suffering grievous wounds.

I had to disagree with Rooney’s observation that war, sadly, brings out the most instances of courage in human beings. It doesn’t take courage to die or be wounded in war. It only takes being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And in the case of war, that’s all the time. For all the instances of apparent courage found in warfare, there are just as many instances of cowardice and perverse cruelty.

Warfare simply brings out the worst in human behavior. In point of fact the mundane routine of civilian affairs contains far many more instances of true courage. The firefighters, the ordinary cops, the EMS respondents, the strangers who run into burning buildings to look for those in danger, or who run to accidents to aid those who may need help. These are the individuals who display true courage. Because they choose to act selflessly despite the assuredness of peril. Not simply because someone ordered them to do so.

On this Memorial Day let us remember the misery and horror wrought by warfare. Let us not celebrate it as an occasion to display the best in human nature.