As I sit here and wonder what it is that we can do to stop not just the cheerleaders for a World War 3 (or 4), but the War itself, I am once again reminded of a very short story,
The War Prayer, by Mark Twain. Twain wrote
The War Prayer in opposition to the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902. He attempted to have it published once, but it was rejected. It wasn't published until after his death. According to the
Wiki article,
"Twain instructed for it to be published after his death, however, and is said to have quipped "I don't think the prayer will be published in my time. None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.""
Well, that's the way it turned out for Twain. Fortunately for us, we have his story today and we are more than able to tell the truth. In fact, telling the truth is what we're good at. Some of you may have missed out on this story. It isn't that long, so I'm going to post it here. After you read it I'd like to propose a plan...
The War Prayer
by Mark Twain
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Sunday morning came -- next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams -- visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation
God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!
Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory --
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside -- which the startled minister did -- and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
"I come from the Throne -- bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import -- that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of -- except he pause and think.
"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two -- one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this -- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
"You have heard your servant's prayer -- the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it -- that part which the pastor -- and also you in your hearts -- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. the whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory -- must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
(After a pause.) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!"
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
A wonderful story. Clear evidence that Mark Twain was a genius and a national treasure. Every time someone mentions "War" I think of The War Prayer. Last night I had a dream that was similar to the story. In my dream, "God's messenger" wasn't ignored. I woke up and the idea was basically ironed into my head, the idea being, let's use Twain's genius to help prevent World War 3 (or 4). Let's spread this story far and wide.
Let's remind people of Iraq, Katrina, the 8 Trillion dollar budget deficit, 46 million uninsured, 36 million Americans living in poverty, the fact that we've LOST jobs under Bush as President, over 2550 soldiers dead, over 15,000 soldiers injured, over 60,000 (and probably closer to 100,000) Iraqis dead, our failing education system, etc. etc.
Here's my philosophy when it comes to gambling and fighting. I only do these activities when I know I can win, or when I know that if I don't, I will die. First, the current crisis in the Middle East is not threatening my life. I will not die if we work towards bringing peace to the area. Second, we simply cannot win.
The population of the United States is over 300 million people. How many of those are able to fight in a war? How many do we have in our military at the moment? Last I checked we had about 1 million people serving in the military. Our population is slightly different in composition when compared to Middle Eastern countries. Most of those countries have over 50% of their citizens as 25 and under. We don't have that. Our population is fairly spread out in age.
Let's take a look at the numbers. To find out the population of a country all you have to do is a little Googling. I Googled "Population of Iran" and the top of the page said "Population: 68,017,860" (According to a cia website which I don't want to link to because I'm paranoid).
What would the numbers look like in a WW3 (or 4)?
Iran- 68,017,860
Iraq- 26,074,906
Syria- 18,448,752
Lebanon- 3,826,018
Palestine- 3,328,300
And those are just the countries that have been mentioned so far. Can you imagine which other countries might get involved?
Saudi Arabia- 21,140,400
Turkey- 69,660,559
Jordan- 5,759,732
China- 1.3 Billion
Russia- 143,420,309
India- 1,095,351,995 (1.1 Billion)
You know what...none of this seems practical anymore! Of course, a War in Iraq and a "War on Terra" weren't exactly practical either. I mean...the Iraq war started March 19, 2003 and we STILL don't have an exit strategy! Who goes to war with no exit strategy?! An irrational, impractial MORON, that's who. These folks don't care about practical. They don't CARE if they can win. They don't CARE about how many people they hurt. Are all of the American people like this? No. They are not.
Let's have faith in the American people and let's HELP persuade those people to see things through our eyes, through Mark Twain's eyes! I urge you today to email this story to everyone you know. Every warmonger, every Repug idiot, every apathetic person who seems to care more about Paris Hilton's shoes (or whatever it is young people are wasting their time on today), every aunt and uncle, every liberal, moderate, conservative Democrat, everyone. The more people who read this story, the better. Email a little note with it about how you're "praying" (if that's what you do...if not, wishing, hoping, etc.) for peace over war. Because let's face it. We cannot afford World War 3 (or 4). We simply can't.
Let's lead people to reason. Let's give them a choice! And if they won't be lead, let's at least sow the seeds of thought in their minds so that one of these days they will wake up and realize that there is NO definition of "win" when it comes to war. There is only loss, pain, suffering, destruction, and death. And I'm sorry, but the ONLY people who cheer for and choose those things are certifiably insane.
Thanks for reading...
This is Crossposted at Street Prophets and at Action Alerts!