All's Fair In...

I have family members, like most of us, with disparately diverging political beliefs. My father, a moderately conservative Republican (we'll attempt to define that later) likes to forward to my brother and myself e-mails that circulate throughout the virtual netherworld, and most likely the same e-mails that end up in my inbox end up in everyone's. This time of year, being the time when Christians become religious and faithful and introspective, often float around tales, stories, and oft-apocryphal poems and prayers such as this:

Subject: Fwd: Nite before christmas written by a marine
>
>
> 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
> HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
> IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
> PLASTER AND STONE.
>
> I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
> WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
> AND TO SEE JUST WHO
> IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.
>
> I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
> A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
> NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
> NOT EVEN A TREE.
>
> NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
> JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
> ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
> OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
>
> WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
> AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
> A SOBER THOUGHT
> CAME THROUGH MY MIND.
>
> FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
> IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
> I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
> ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.
>
> THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
> SILENT, ALONE,
> CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
> IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
>
> THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
> THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
> NOT HOW I PICTURED
> A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.
>
> WAS THIS THE HERO
> OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
> CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
> THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
>
> I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
> THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
> OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
> WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.
>
> SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
> THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
> AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
> A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
>
> THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
> EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
> BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
> LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
>
> I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
> HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
> ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
> IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
>
> THE VERY THOUGHT
> BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
> I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
> AND STARTED TO CRY.
>
> THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
> AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
> "SANTA DON'T CRY,
> THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
>
> I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
> I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
> MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
> MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."
>
> THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
> AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
> I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
> I CONTINUED TO WEEP.
>
> I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
> SO SILENT AND STILL
> AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
> FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.
>
> I DIDN! 'T WANT TO LEAVE
> ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
> THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
> SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
>
> THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
> WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
> WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
> IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."
>
> ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
> AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
> "MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
> AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."
>
> This poem was written by a Marine. The
> following is his request. I think it is reasonable.....
>
> PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending
> this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be
> coming soon and some credit is due to our US service
> men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities.
>
> Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make
> people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead,who sacrificed
> themselves for us.
> Please, do your small part to plant this small seed.
> The least we can do is light a candle and say a prayer for all who are
there,
> to help keep Peace on Earth.
>
> God Bless them and grant them many, many years...Amen


My younger brother, who is completing his doctorate in United States history in an Ivy League University, is not a moderately conservative Republican. In fact, he is not a Republican, nor a conservative nor a moderate. My brother's politics lie left of my own, and I respect his philosophical, political, and deeply-spiritual outlook on the world. As a response to the forwarded e-mail, my brother replied:


How about this for a holiday poem:

The Iraq war is a violation of international law
The USA should not have invaded
The American government lied to its
Citizen soldiers
By telling them honor and freedom
Are at stake
And that they could found in the
Sands and oil fields of the Middle East
Now
Brave and
Young and
Willing and
Unwilling soldiers
Are being killed and maimed
And grieved over
All for a
Lying liar of an American President
Lies
Lies
Lies
Hasn't the American body politic learned
Enough of war?
Why don't Americans
Treasure year-round the holiday
Peace
That they claim to cherish come
December 25, each year?
Shouldn't peace and the celebration of
Human life
Be a daily thing?
Not just a seasonal ad-campaign
That combines patriotism with sentiment
With material consumption?
Lies
Lies
Lies
Americans know too little about war
That they write sentimental poems
About how great it is
But also about how sad it is
... for Americans
And how lonely their soldiers are
In far away lands
Lands where they should not be
Lands where the local populations
Do not like them very much
Do not want them around very much
Wish very much that they would just
Go away
Go away
Go away
And quickly at that
But instead the lonely marine
Looking up at the starry night
Aims his automatic rifle at a
Formless sound in the darkness
And shoots
And shoots
And shoots
Lies
Lies
Lies
He is scared
He doesn't want to be at war
He'd rather be home with his
Family and friends
He'd rather be far, far way from
The killing fields
But instead he wakes up every morning
To find the dead people that
Inhabit his world
Some are his friends
Some are not
These are the civilians
These are those who would rather
Die
Than have him around in their world
They do like him
They hate him
Not because he has freedom
But rather because the USA means
Something very
Evil
To a great many people in the
World
Now
Millions have to hope
To simply survive in the
Warzones
That result when lying liars like
That control governments and
American Republics
Start wars but don't know how to
End wars
Lies
Lies
Lies
What does freedom mean when
Those who espouse it to others
Do so with an automatic rifle
That
When fired
Sounds more like
Hate and despotism
Hate and domination
Hate and misunderstanding
Hate and invasion
Hate and disrespect
To those who are supposed to be
Democratized?
Lies
Lies
Lies
I hope that all USA soldiers
All world soldiers
Would just stop killing for
Themselves
Their people
Their gods
Their governments
Their pasts, presents, and futures
And just wage peace with automatic
Embraces to strangers and loved ones
So that this world becomes a
Better place
Not one full of
Lies
Lies
Lies
Do not blindly support anybody who
Goes to war
Patriotism kills millions
Instead
Support those who go to
Peace


Those of you who do, thankfully, visit my 'blog, I would appreciate your viewpoints on the dialogue and debate at hand. As others reply, I, too, will contribute.


On a lighter note, it's finals week. I plan on getting no sleep, a bad cold, lots of flak from failing students and their parents, and finding joy in the fact that I will soon have a two-week reprieve from my occupation to spend with my wife and son.