Embedded in Wars

I find myself involved in two wars at the moment. Through my ramped up research into my Dad's service in World War II I am following the 10th Armored Division leading up to and through the Battle of the Bulge. I have also recently been reading the recent book on the story of Hue 1968 and the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. A number of years ago (well, many number of years ago, now) a colleague expressed surprise that I read war novels and have often been interested in war studies. "Aren't you a pacifist?" was his question.

Well, nothing is ever black and white, of course. History is often the story of conflict that led seemingly obviously to war. In reading and researching I feel that we can often get a better understanding of our world and hopefully find ways to make war less and less common.

World War II and Vietnam are both watershed moments in our American history. I grew up with World War II being recent enough to be current events. My Dad and many of my friends fathers were veterans. It was more than a watershed- it was a defining moment in many ways, positive and negative. I am also of the Vietnam era. I did not go to war, but the impact of the divisions in our nation as a result of that war are still reverberating. They form the roots of half of the reactions we are seeing today- the civil rights movement being the other half.

In any case a couple of things have stood out as I read through these two wars. This is not an in-depth understanding. These are just things that seem so obvious and still important.

First was the people involved. The soldiers and Marines, the families back home, the local people whose world was being turned into a wasteland. The deep fear and terror that often gripped them is indescribable. The courage is beyond reproach. The horrors of war far worse than any movie has ever been able to portray. Thinking specifically of the soldiers, the daily grind, at times boring and often so horrific that there was no time left to think- just react.

Deep gratitude and humbling awe is what I feel as I read about these battles.

The other thing that jumped off the pages of both wars was, inevitably, the lack of awareness at times of the leaders up the chain of command. They refused to believe, for example, that the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong were able to mount such an offensive. They ordered units into suicide missions because they simply didn't believe the enemy could do what the intelligence and ground reports were telling them was happening. Don't confuse me with the facts. General Westmoreland in 1968 was the classic. But the information that Patton's G2 units were passing back about the possibility of what became the Battle of the Bulge- were also ignored. At  least Patton had the war sense to believe it.

The others believed their own propaganda. Those between Patton and Eisenhower felt they were watching a retreat and not a building up of troops. The Germans and the the North Vietnamese, by the way, also believed their propaganda. It was nothing to push the Americans out of France; the Vietnamese people only needed to see a win like Hue and they would rise up against the foreigners. No army or nation is immune to seeing the world through its own lens of belief about itself.

These are lessons we must not lose:

• The importance of the people on the ground- their insight, courage and willingness, and
• Being wary of easy answers that simply echo what we already believe.

Yet I fear they will happen again and again.

A 50-Year Memory: He Wouldn't Run Again.

March 31, 1968:
"I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party as your President."

I was on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Several of us were returning to school after spring break. I seem to remember it was  a foggy evening as we listened to the president's address to the nation. Like most, we were stunned and elated.

Tom Wicker reporting in the New York Times after the speech described Johnson as talking about the progress made in his years as president. But they

"must not now be lost in suspicion and distrust and selfishness and politics. ...I have concluded that I should not permit the Presidency to become involved in the partisan divisions that are developing."
And so it was that the man who won the biggest political landslide in American history, when he defeated Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona in the Presidential election of 1964, renounced the idea of a second term. (Link)

LBJ knew he was losing support. McCarthy had shown Johnson's vulnerability. Bobby Kennedy was waiting in the wings. He was president of a deeply divided nation. He didn't know it at the time but it was very quickly going to get much, much worse.It was stunning, but soon to be overtaken by events in Memphis, Los Angeles, and the streets of Chicago and Prague.

One of the most chaotic and challenging years was just beginning.

Just as Great a Generation

For any one of a number of reasons I have not been watching the Ken Burns/PBS series on Vietnam. I may very well catch it later in bits and pieces, but its very presence on TV has got me to thinking (again!) about that divisive and nation-changing time. So much of what appears to divide us today has its roots in that era.

I am not a veteran of that, or any, war. I did not serve in the Armed Forces. I was a conscientious objector and did my alternative service from 1970 1972. I was, and still am, a pacifist. I am the son of a WW II veteran who served as a non-combatant- medic- with the 10th Armored Division at, among other battles, the Battle of the Bulge. I still get chills when I play- or hear- the Star Spangled Banner. I remove my hat when the flag passes. I am patriotic and proud to be an American.

And, no, this is NOT another post about the NFL and such protests. This is about Vietnam and Vietnam-era vets who have never received the care and support they deserve for what they did. They didn't get it in Vietnam from the "powers-that-be", from any of the Presidents they served for, and many have consistently mis-understood them and the war they fought in.

A number of years ago Tom Brokaw gave the World War 2 military members the title of "The Greatest Generation." They were remarkable in what they did. I have done considerable study on my Dad's service and see what  those incredible men and women did in, I believe, literally saving western civilization, democracy, and life as we know it.

But it is time to see that the Vietnam Era Veterans are just as great a generation.

The ones I knew then and have come to know since were caught in the middle of some of the greatest difficulties an armed forces can endure- split leadership, poor leadership, poor assumptions, poor political understanding, corrupt governments they were sent to give support to, then undermined, again, by their own military and political leaders lack of willingness to admit an error. Robert McNamara finally admitted in the documentary Fog of War in 2003 that the war was an error. Sorry, sir, that was 40 years too late for the men and women whose names are on that wall in Washington, D.C.

Many of them knew it at that time. They were the ones on the ground seeing the insanity and facing an enemy that was often invisible and had far greater numbers than the Pentagon was willing to accept as reality. Too many leaders were still living in the warm glow of World War 2 while ignoring important lessons from the Korean War. We destroyed North Korea at that time, what some wanted us to do with North Vietnam, and still were unable to bring the war to a peaceful conclusion. We never saw it coming in Vietnam.

But, again, the troops on the ground knew it. They fought, and fought hard, even with that knowledge. Many knew it to be a losing battle with atrocities and the "fog of war" keeping things even worse than we saw on TV. They fought as hard as the World War 2 vets in a completely different type of war. They were brave and scared to death at the same time. As any soldier in any war would be. Many came home wounded in soul and took many years to heal. Some never have.

I hope they are being recognized today. They never received the "Welcome home!" they deserved. We should have embraced them and listened to their stories without judging or calling them names. Many of them joined the protests against the war; many did not. All were heroes.

Maybe the current Ken Burns series will cast some new light on that war and those who served. Maybe we can set aside our preconceptions and leftover animosities to come together and say "Thank you!" to them for what they did. Maybe we can have a dialogue about service and patriotism and leadership that we have long ignored having.

Maybe we can turn a corner in the political divisiveness and insanity that we have been experiencing and finally move on before the Vietnam-era generation is gone, and with them lessons we have yet to learn.

Great Writing

It always amazes me, although I know it shouldn't be such a surprise, that I can often tell I'm reading a great book from the very beginning. There's something about the language and flow that grabs hold of me and won't let go.

I AM A SPY, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds. I am not some misunderstood mutant from a comic book or a horror movie, although some have treated me as such. I am simply able to see any issue from both sides. Sometimes I flatter myself that this is a talent, and although it is admittedly one of a minor nature, it is perhaps also the sole talent I possess. At other times, when I reflect on how I cannot help but observe the world in such a fashion, I wonder if what I have should even be called talent. After all, a talent is something you use, not something that uses you. The talent you cannot not use, the talent that possesses you—that is a hazard, I must confess. But in the month when this confession begins, my way of seeing the world still seemed more of a virtue than a danger, which is how some dangers first appear.

So begins the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. It isn't often I will comment on a book I have barely started, but this one was an instant and powerful hook. (Well, doh, it is this year's Pulitzer Prize winner!)

Every literature professor and critic knows the way to build a story. Very few writers can do it masterfully. For example there is a slow release of information, unveiled bit by bit. A line piques your curiosity wondering what the connection is. A hint of few words about "my father" plants a seed- or is it a time bomb- that you are on guard to find out.

But above all, there is the language and the ability to tell you more in a few words than I could tell you in a whole chapter (or a whole sermon, for that matter.) Here are three that grabbed me and wouldn't let me go in the first chapter:

“Amid short tempers, Claude stayed cool, having lived here so long he barely perspired in the tropical humidity. He could sneak up on you in the dark, but he could never be invisible ”

“I finished the whiskey, then drove the General home through a storm, the amniotic water bursting over the city a hint of the forthcoming season.”

“We were smoking a final cigarette at the mouth of the dank, dripping alley that was the beer garden’s exit when a trio of hydrocephalic marines stumbled out of the vaginal darkness. ”

All excerpts From:

Viet Thanh Nguyen. “The Sympathizer.”

This is clearly a book to savor, rich in language, style, substance and story. It is clearly not a book to be taken lightly. I am already aware that there is going to be much to learn and experience about the human condition in this book. But I must not rush through it. It must be read with caution of its power and at a pace which allows it to become part of me.

As a writer such books make me cringe at my own verbosity here or in any of my sermons over the years. They also force me to look at the world around me in different ways than I may ever have before. This is the kind of book that affirms for me that fiction can be far more powerful in telling the truth than many a set of facts. Like any great book this one may have been conceived in the mind of the writer, but it is not false or fake.

Read, listen, and learn.

In Memoriam

Father Daniel Berrigan
May 9, 1921 - April 20, 2016

A poet, 

a prophet, 

a pastoral presence 

for peace.

He challenged the status quo of the "war machine" and stood in humble strength before the powers that be.

Three quotes:

One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible.

And even more radically:

Faith is rarely where your head is at. Nor is it where your heart is at. Faith is where your ass is at!

And finally, at the heart of the matter for Bro. Dan:

If you are going to follow Jesus, you better look good on wood.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Another 50-year Memory: Vietnam

Earlier, when I got ready to post the video for the month from 50 years ago, my senior year in high school, I discovered that the song that dominated the American airwaves for five solid weeks in March and April of 1966 was the Vietnam War song, Ballad of the Green Berets. It is one of those songs that brings back deep and powerful emotions.

In 1966 the anti-war movement was hardly more than a relatively few people. Most of us were still living in the World War II vision of victory and the unbeatable power of the American military. Barry Sadler's song conjured all those positive emotions. It was, after all, only 20 years after World War II and many of us were the GI's children.

On the other hand it was a song of praise to and even worship of war. Wrapped in  the honor of the "brave men of the Green Berets" was, unfortunately, words that glorified war and death. My Dad had died about 18 months earlier, but I wonder if he, a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, would have felt that way?

Those two conflicting emotions were- and still are- real in the American psyche. They may even be basic emotional responses in the human psyche.

Underlying the conflicting emotions was also the uncertain political leadership, a deep and fatal misunderstanding of the root causes underlying the war, and a reliance on a style of war that was becoming outdated. Even Defense Secretary McNamara many years too late acknowledged the "fog" of the Vietnam War. The result, as we well know, was a disaster. We turned on ourselves and the men and women in the service. We vilified returning servicemen as if they were to blame for the problem when all they did was answer the call to military service.

Even if we did not participate directly in that vilification, as a nation it may have been among our darkest hours.

Times have changed in many ways. More people now understand that disagreement with war policy does not mean disagreement or hatred of those sent to serve. More people are recognizing the devastating effects of any war and seeking ways to help and support those who are adversely impacted by it. We are welcoming veterans home and thanking them for their service.

I also believe our Vietnam veterans are hopefully getting their long-deserved due. I have noticed that Vietnam vets are more willing to talk publicly today about their service without wondering who is going to condemn them for something that wasn't their fault.

Yesterday we were having lunch in an out-of-the-way restaurant. There was only one other couple present. The gentleman was a Vietnam-era Navy veteran. He was talking to the young server about his experiences and what he did in the war. He was not on the ground in Vietnam, but served aboard an aircraft carrier off the Vietnamese coast. As I listened to his story, we were only a couple tables apart, I was glad he now felt able to talk openly about it.

This is a far cry from some of my vet friends between 1969 and 1972. Even those who were involved in groups like Vietnam Veterans Against the War, as vocal as they were, would often be cautious about who they talked to about their experiences. Over these 40 years I have sat with a number who wanted to talk more about it and make their own amends to themselves.

Even given all that, I cannot post Barry Sadler's song. There are on You Tube videos that honor vets of other wars with pictures set to Sadler's song. While I applaud the support of these troops, Sadler's words are still too divisive and difficult, describing a time that is now past.

Plus we need to do something more positive as the vets of my generation are aging.

• My heart still sinks every time I see a Vietnam Veteran.
• For what we as a nation put them through,
• For the way they were treated,
• For the loss of so many young men!

To all Vietnam veterans, and troops from all the wars, I thank you for your willingness to do what you have done. May the day come when we (or someone) can look back and be glad when no one has to fight in war.

The Easy Way of Being a Prophet

Last Sunday the Gospel lesson was the end of the story of John the Baptist- where he lost his head to the whims of the king. The Hebrew Bible lesson was from Amos who got into trouble for speaking the truth to power- the King. They fit right in with my sermon two weeks ago on Jan Hus and his martyr's death at the instigation of the Pope and the church powers in 1415.

THAT'S not an easy way to be a prophet. What is the easier, softer way?

The pastor then talked about a recent experience he had at national convention where he and 1,200 others did a march against gun violence while carrying signs that said, "Black Lives Matter." It was a very moving spiritual experience for him, as I am sure it would have been. We had done a simple march in Miami 20 years ago as part of a world mission conference. All we did was walk as a witness to our faith. That was amazing. This was standing up to power and pointing out one of the deep divides and cardinal sins of our culture that no one wants to talk about.

The pastor then commented

It's easy being a prophet when you are with 1200 other people.

Yep. A lot of truth in that. It is easy when we can get lost in the crowd. When all of you are chanting the same, protesting the same, but just face the reality and, well, things can get a little more difficult.

I discovered that back in the early 70s in the midst of the Vietnam War protests. I had gone down to Washington to participate in the May Day protests. I had been there a week earlier with the big protests. It was fun and an anti-war carnival. Many people came back a week later with the expressed purpose of shutting down Washington in acts of civil disobedience. We arrived on Saturday, May 1 and camped out in West Potomac Park near the Washington Monument. It was a picnic-rock fest with people hanging-out and listening to the music. There were about 35,000 people there.

I fell asleep that night, though fitfully, aware that civil disobedience could get one arrested.

I awoke on Sunday morning and looked out the tent flap. As I remember it now it was the sight of riot troops (we'd call them SWAT teams now) lining the streets around the park. It seemed like an endless number of them. The Nixon administration had cancelled the park permit. They were urging us to leave. Later in the morning the troops started to move across the camping area, tearing tents down, using tear gas to disperse the crowds.

I never saw that part. I gathered my stuff and, along with about 25,000 others, left D.C. heading back home.

Sometimes it isn't even easy being a prophet when there are 35,000 of you- and 10,000 of them with guns.

Or you are standing on a Memphis motel porch, there's one lone gunman across the street and your name is Martin Luther King, Jr.; or Robert Kennedy, surrounded by supporters as Sirhan Sirhan pulls the trigger; or Mahatma Gandhi about to enter a prayer meeting as a gunman came up to him and fired three times.

 It appears that it is never easy being a prophet when you have to stand up to the ways of the world that lead to death, destruction, hate, and fear.

I give thanks for those who are willing to take that prophetic stand of speaking out, of challenging those who would use their power to oppress those already under oppression; those who would conspire to take dignity and hope, health and support from others who are different; those who would use their religion and their patriotism to denigrate others and turn them into non-persons.

I know that I am a weak prophet. I want people to like me- and I certainly don't want to be tear-gassed or have my head beaten by a billy-club. But I also know that I have to find ways to stand up for what I believe to be right.

The easy way of being a prophet is to stay at home and not speak out. Because one is no longer a prophet. Maybe I need to find more people who are willing to do it with me.

# 6,000- In Memory of Another Pilgrim

Normally I would simply note the passing of post # 6,000 in the history of this blog which started over 12 years ago. But in the last couple weeks a fellow-pilgrim, friend, and very special person came to the end of his pilgrimage.

So I dedicate this post, number 6,000 of pilgrim wanderings for my friend, Ron, a true and dedicated pilgrim throughout his life.

We met about 45 years ago in the midst of our shared objections to the Vietnam War and our desire to help those who wanted peace. We spent the next years in our common interests. He and his wife gave me a place to learn a bit about what it means to mature and become yourself. He was almost exactly 10 years older than I was and became a role model and older brother.

We shared a common desire to grow and wrestle with our Christianity and what it means in these days to be a Christ-follower. We knew that this included standing up for what is right, caring for those who were the least and the lost, asking hard questions of ourselves, the government, and the churches. We learned and challenged each other to keep the faith and trust in the God who is the Creator.

His living room sanctuary was where I came to know another pilgrim who was soon to become my wife. We all worked together for peace as being something more than anti-war. It was a way of being and accepting, even in our human imperfections, the ways of God as the way of life.

He is also the impetus that got me into the Moravian Church and on the path that I have followed for these past 40+ years. God puts the right people in the right place at the right time. I was a young college graduate who had no idea what it meant to find his way in the world. He was present at the creation of what I have become and with his wife and mine helped me discover me.

It seems like a cliche to say that he was one of those people who is the "salt of the earth." Yet, in all the ways Jesus meant that phrase, that describes Ron. He was a "blue-collar" person who was able to relate to people on a deep and intuitive level, regardless of their place or standing. This included the gay co-worker (in 1971!), the kids at the local youth center that I directed for the city, returning Vietnam veterans- or this seminarian trying to be real.

It is appropriate that he died on July 4th. He was patriotic, again in the very best sense of the word. He wanted this country to live up to its ideals in the midst of a time when those principles were being torn to shreds, we felt, by the government itself. It will also be easy for me to remember his "Saint's Day", the day his pilgrimage found its answers and the reunion with his wife and others who have gone before us.

Rest in Peace, my dear friend. Thanks!!

An old American folk song made famous by Dave van Ronk, Bob Dylan and others speaks of my feelings these past months since I learned of his terminal situation. While it isn't about Ron, it is about all those friends who walk into our lives and will not leave us unchanged.

A 45-Year Memory: Four Dead in Ohio

The Kent State shootings ... occurred at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

Some of the students who were shot had been protesting the Cambodian Campaign, which President Richard Nixon announced during a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.

There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of four million students, and the event further affected public opinion—at an already socially contentious time—over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War.
-Wikipedia

I was a senior in college and didn't know what to think. Sadly, it wasn't the last time I was faced with the cognitive dissonance of watching what I thought were sacred values and the foundation of who we are as a nation be undermined.

Michael Winship, the Emmy Award-winning senior writer of Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com,
has posted an essay he wrote five years ago on the 40th anniversary of Kent State.
It brings back the memories.

Link to Bill Moyers.com

All The Different Things

Every day has quite a list of "historical" events that have happened on that day. Every now and then I like to skim them for things that tickle my fancy. So I did. Here, then, for the last day of January is a list of just six that I thought were either interesting, funny, or work noting.


~~These first two show the wonder of hypocritical thinking that is at the heart of any country's politics.

1865 - Congress passes 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in America (121-24)
1876 - The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.

<><><><><><><><><><>

~~This next one just kind of took me to levels of ridiculous or sublime. I guess it makes some sense. Somewhere.

1927 - NL Pres John Heydler rules Rogers Hornsby can't hold stock in the Cardinals and play for the Giants

<><><><><><><><><><>

~~I have been doing work on the late 50s and this one reminded me of the launch of Sputnik just a few months earlier with which the Soviet Union was the first to get a satellite into orbit. We finally made it on Jan 31, almost 4 months later.

1958 - US launches their 1st artificial satellite, Explorer 1

<><><><><><><><><><>

~~The Vietnam war. The US was shocked, caught flat-footed when the Tet offensive began. I remember one of my fellow students in college running around commenting that this was the beginning of the end for the US war in Vietnam. he was right but it took a few more years.

1968 - Viet Cong Tet offensive begins

<><><><><><><><><><>

~~This last one is only 21 years ago. What a difference a decade or two makes.

1994 - Dow Jones hits a record 3,978.36

So remember- today's headline might just be history in the making.

All Kinds of Things Can Happen on This Day

1859 – The first modern revival of the Olympic Games takes place in Athens, Greece.

1864 – American Civil War: Union General William Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia and starts Sherman's March to the Sea.

1939 – In Washington, D.C., US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.

1969 – Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".

1969 - Wendy's Hamburgers opens

1969 - Janis Joplin, accused of vulgar & indecent language in Tampa, Fla

A 50-Year Memory: Tonkin Gulf Resolution

It gave Lyndon Johnson the power to fight in Vietnam. It was based on a supposed aggression by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin. The House of Representatives voted unanimously to support it. In the Senate two voted against it- Wayne Morse (D-OR) and Ernest Gruening (D-AK). They were, of course, seen as unpatriotic. The result was, of course, the Vietnam War.

It was all a lie- or at least a big prevarication. We were probably the aggressor- or at least a provocateur. The resolution had been sitting around on desks in the White House for several months waiting for the right moment.

Early August 1964 was the time.

Over the next decade it tore our country apart.

A very sad day to remember.

Heroes: Part 2- More About My List

A month ago I posted about a list of my heroes. I wasn't talking about the individuals that touched me personally- professors, elders, etc. I have talked about some of them in other posts. Many of them (most of them?) are now passed on, my mentors are gone. But these heroes are some of the world-changers who have most motivated, inspired, challenged, and ultimately changed me. It started as an introduction to a post of pictures of Cesar Chavez that I took over 40 years ago. It is now morphing into more than just Sr. Chavez.

Here then is that original list, in alphabetical order, with one addition that I can't believe I missed.

• Louis Armstrong- perhaps the greatest, most creative and even talented of all 20th Century musicians. He inspired me as a trumpet player, but also as one who stood up and did what needed to be done to be successful.
• Dan and Phil Berrigan- The Brothers Berrigan, both originally Roman Catholic priests, although Phil left to get married. Their faith led them to some acts of civil disobedience and time in prison. Jesus, they believed, wanted His followers to speak out against war and injustice. Their witness was a challenge to my easy, comfortable, "personal" faith.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer- Deeper than even the Berrigans, Bonhoeffer may be the quintessential theologian/witness against the horrors of the 20th Century. His challenge to "cheap grace" and the "cost of discipleship, opened understandings into being a Jesus follower that he barely had a chance to live out. A man of amazing trust in God and a challenge to cultural christianity.
• Cesar Chavez- I spoke of his witness for the poor and oppressed. He was another man of faith, non-ordained, but one whose life was guided by an awareness of the ways of Jesus.
• Robert Kennedy- In my mind, the most challenging of politicians of the mid-20th Century. A complex and probably conflicted person who showed both the good and bad of politics in his short history. In the end, he was attempting, I believe, to make the changes in himself and the country that were, and still are, sorely needed. His announcement of Martin Luther King's death on the streets of Indianapolis is one of the more moving moments of a very difficult year.
• Martin Luther King, Jr.- The man I would nominate for American of the Century. Another man of faith, working at his best to make a difference. His commitment to non-violence helped move civil rights into the mainstream. He and others lost their lives to make it happen. His "I have a dream" speech still stands as a beacon and guidance for the future.
• Mahatma Gandhi- The guiding saint of non-violence. He died the year I was born, but his teachings and witness still reverberate. An amazing individual.
• Harvey Milk- A man who kind of fell into the right place at the right time. He didn't know what to do with his life so he became an activist for Gay Rights- or at least that's how it looks from the outside.He came out of the closet, won his place in the city of San Francisco, and lost his life. Yet he helped give life to that part of the civil rights movement that we are finally seeing the results from.
• Nelson Mandela- In my book, the Man of the World for the 20th Century. With every reason to be angry and vengeful, he turned toward reconciliation. Oppressed and imprisoned for his fight for equality, he didn't try to take away the equality of his prisoners or oppressors. Along with Bishop Desmond Tutu, a witness to the world of the right way to forgive- anything!
• Pope John XXIII- A quiet man of gentle faith who pulled the Catholic Church out of the middle ages and showed that the church should have a voice in the modern world. In way too short a time as Pope he accomplished hundreds of years of reform. While some of it slowed down after his death, he gave faith a hopeful name. Pope Francis appears to be trying to walk in his holy shoes.
• Archbishop Oscar Romero- El Salvadoran Bishop, he believed in liberation of the oppressed and to change a corrupt system based on wealth and prestige. He had called for Christian soldiers to put down their arms and stop oppressing the poor. A day later, as he stepped to the altar for the Eucharist, he was assassinated. The oppression of Jesus' followers can be just as powerful in Christian countries.
• Elie Wiesel- Holocaust survivor, Nobel Prize laureate, the voice for the voiceless millions of World War II genocide. The only man on the list (other than Chavez) who I personally saw and heard speak. A gentle man who in his demeanor maintains that innocence that continues to ask the awful question, "How can this happen?" while always working so that it will happen "Never again!" He is an icon for me, an image that allows me to see into the pained face of God as God looked down on our human insanity of the 20th Century.

Many of these were paradoxes- mixtures of good and bad, healthy and unhealthy habits. Just like me.

Many were men of deep faith who allowed their faith to guide their whole walk in life. As a result, most were willing to stand up to the established order so that it would be more open and receptive to more people.

All, in their own ways, were rebels, radicals, even, hoping to make a difference. Whether through music, words, or actions, these individuals have shaped my faith and my outlook on the world. They all make sense to me. I have no idea if I could ever do what they did in the face of what they lived. When I look at them, I can only repeat what the father of a boy with an evil spirit said to Jesus:

I believe; help my unbelief.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As I noted in the previous post last month, this is a list of men. They came to mind first probably because of the simple fact that I am a man and the ones who most moved me into so many challenges gave me different understanding about being male. In another upcoming post I will take a look at the women who are my heroes.

Conscience- or Discrimination?

Back in the 60s (and before) there was this moral position about war that was called "Conscientious Objection." You had to prove to your local draft board that you were opposed to war- and that being drafted and going to war was against your faith and belief. It became quite contentious in many places. Some draft boards were notorious for never granting CO status to anyone but those who were from the traditional "peace churches:" Quaker, Mennonite, Brethren, etc. Other draft boards would take the position that someone who went to all the trouble to put together the application probably was being sincere. There were all the positions in-between that caused much anguish and tension within communities and families.

This was of course the Vietnam War era and the thinking was that they didn't want to give CO status to someone who was just out to save his own butt in that particular war. If you were opposed to ALL wars and wouldn't have fought in other wars either, then you were more likely to be deemed CO. Otherwise you found yourself with a difficult dilemma. What if you didn't get your draft board to grant you CO status so you could do alternative service in a hospital or other such institution for two years? What if you ended up getting drafted and ordered to report for your physical or, if passing that, your induction?

Well, you had several choices. First, you could simply follow the law and your notice and go into the Army if drafted. Second, you could enlist in one of the military branches before being drafted and try to get something that would fit your conscience. Third, you could refuse, get arrested and sent to prison for several years. Or, fourth, you could leave the country and become an ex-pat in Canada. There were people who chose from this list and followed their conscience. Some went into the service, voluntarily or not, because they didn't want to go to jail or leave the country. Others who didn't want jail went to Canada. Needless to say there was a lot of soul-searching by a lot of young men in that era. The stakes for any individual were of course quite high. To become a felon, refugee in a foreign country, or move from your principles and possibly be killed in war- none of those was particularly enticing. Many of those were not from the traditional peace churches also faced separation from their communities or families simply for taking the stand.

Were there those who misused this? I am sure there were. Did some lie or build a case that wasn't their true beliefs but were simply to stay out of Vietnam? Of course there were. But most of those I knew were honest- sincere- and ready to take the consequences. Some fought it in the courts; most of them lost their appeals. Nearing the end of the Vietnam Era the Supreme Court broadened the requirements some, allowing those who were not part of the "peace churches" to be considered.

Back to accepting the consequences, though. That was the underlying decision faced by many. Which consequence, in their mind, was the least onerous, the best of all bad options?

So what does this have to do with discrimination?

• Example: A doctor who refuses to see patients who wish to have an abortion because of their belief that abortion is wrong.
• Example: A counselor who refuses to counsel a gay man because he believes homosexuality is sinful and would urge that person to work to change their sexual orientation.
• Example: A family-owned company does not want to pay for contraception as part of insurance coverage because of a sincere belief that it is sinful and against God's will.

The doctor, counselor, or corporate owner could easily see themselves as "Conscientious Objectors." Who am I to make them follow MY conscience or beliefs against theirs?

Ah yes, but it can get really tangled up. It has only been in my lifetime that in some states it became legal for people of different "races" to get married. It is only in my lifetime that people were told they couldn't treat people of other "races" or ethnic groups differently because they were "different." That is to name but a few examples of how discrimination can show up in the guise of "conscience." It wasn't that long ago that women weren't allowed to vote. And it is not long before that when even men who didn't own property were given the same right.

When, then, does conscience become discrimination? When does conscience become prejudice- or become a justification for what acts and looks like prejudice? When can a society- by cultural standards or law- tell people that their "beliefs" or "conscience" is wrong, unpatriotic, or even "illegal."

Mormons in the 19th Century wanted to practice polygamy- by their conscience. The greater society said no. Was society "discriminating" against Mormons in so doing?

Yet, prohibitionists in the early 20th Century persuaded the society to adopt "their" "moral position." The society suffered greatly.

Perhaps to answer the questions we need to look at issues and ethical principles like "the greater good" or "justice" (in the ethics sense of equality of care, fair distribution of resources, etc.), "autonomy", "do no harm, do good. We can get into different types of ethical stances and come out in different places. I believe it is worth the discussion. We are having it, of course, in our country at this time over same-sex marriage and its ramifications as well as the Affordable Care Act and contraception.

Let's do it in honest and supportive ways. Let's recognize that there are consequences to any of our actions. Which ones are we willing to accept- and live with- and which ones do we feel will cause harm and injustice? Let's do it with openness about what we really do believe and why we believe it, accepting that in a diverse and highly pluralistic society we may be in the minority as often as we are in the majority.

The COs of the Vietnam War era were definitely in the minority. Yet they were listened to and accepted. What can that mean for our current debate?

Remembering Pete - Part 4

Needless to say Pete's strong social conscience led him into some difficult spots politically. But he never backed down!

Controversies

 We live in a country where we have the right to be wrong. That's the essence of the Freedom of Speech to Pete. In the midst of the anti-communist witch-hunts of the 1950s Pete, who had been a member of the Communist Party, was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

He refused to answer the questions or give any information. Unlike others in similar situations, though, he did not use his 5th Amendment right to not self-incriminate. Instead, since he was sure he did nothing wrong- and therefore there was nothing to incriminate himself on- he took the First Amendment instead.

Freedom of Speech is the freedom not to speak as well.

He was held in contempt of Congress, a charge that was later overturned by the courts. But the damage was done. Pete was blacklisted. There was no work for him on network TV. The Weavers did continue to perform- but Pete felt he needed to leave the group when they were hired to do a cigarette commercial.

Vietnam and the Smothers Brothers

He finally got his chance with the Smothers Brothers. The comedy/variety show was given permission to have Pete as a guest in September 1967. But Vietnam was in the news and Pete had written this song about that war. He sang it on the show. When the show was aired, the song wasn't there.

The Smothers fought CBS and eventually won. The whole song was sung on another show in February 1968. I remember that evening. Many of us were gathered around a TV somewhere on campus. (I am not sure where on campus I was. I tended to roam) I do remember the electricity in the room as Pete stood there proud and sincere and sang about being "Waist deep in the big muddy as the big fool said to push on."

Don't forget that this was an era when you shouldn't trust anyone over 30. So the whole incident, with Pete as an elder statesman kind of folk hero even at the (then) seemingly over-the-hill age of 48, brought to light the depth of the political divide over the war. That year, 1968, would be the year of a radical shift in the country with King and Kennedy's deaths, Chicago's Democratic Convention and LBJ not running for president again. There was Pete!

Pete's voice was never polished or particularly smooth, as that clip shows. It didn't need to be. He wanted to get people involved. No sitting with a neutral position at his shows.

Salvador Allende and Chile

The September 11, 1973 military coup in Chile that ousted (and killed) the freely elected Marxist leader, Salvador Allende, became a flashpoint for many in Pete's world. Pete being among them. Pete had often been more than mildly interested in the sad history of American interference in Latin America. Chile and the stories heard of the horrors there in the coup only made him more incensed.

One of the martyrs who became well known in the world after the coup was Chilean poet Victor Jara. Pete's friend, Arlo Guthrie would write a song about Victor. Pete took one of Jara's poems and turned it into a song in Victor's honor. The terror of those days must not be forgotten, thought Pete. He made sure it wasn't.

Over the past week I have heard Pete's version of Jara's poem, Estadio Chile, a number of times on the Pete Seeger sidestream on Folk Alley. Like so much of Pete's work, the intensity and conviction is ever present.

One of the haunting lines in the original Spanish:

Canto qué mal me sales cuando tengo que cantar espanto!

Pete sings it:

O you song, you come out so badly when I must sing — the terror!

It could also be translated as

"O song, how hard it is to sing when I must sing of horror."

Pete never backed away from that. He knew that the power of song could change the world- or at least not let the pain and injustice go unheard.

But Pete was no ideologue. He saw himself as an American and a patriot. He firmly believed in the principles on which this nation was built. He insisted that we not lose them. He did not fight for a political revolution, but something far deeper and more lasting than that. Perhaps one could call it the ongoing strengthening of the American revolution, bringing to light any injustice still be done- and calling us to our better nature. He wanted the truth to be known and honesty to be real.

And he was always ready to be wrong. Just give him the chance to do so and not shut him up.

“I still call myself a communist,” Seeger told The New York Times 20 years ago, “because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it. But if by some freak of history communism had caught up with this country, I would have been one of the first people thrown in jail. As my father used to say: ‘The truth is a rabbit in a bramble patch. All you can do is circle around and say it’s somewhere in there.’ ”
-quoted at blood,dirt,and angels