Today's reflection comes from the two places I visited on London's south
bank; the Imperial War Museum and the Tate Modern, plus a little personal
experience. The subject is violence: when is it necessary, when is it
voluntarily.
The Imperial War Museum had display cases galore filled with Victoria
Crosses (like Medals of Honor), every one of them extending
violence. Did all that violence have to be extended? Probably not!
When the Twin Towers came down and America counter-punched in
Afghanistan, was that necessary? I believe so.
We had more options in Iraq and Vietnam. Violence was more voluntarily, the decorations still piled up. Which brings me to the Tate Modern.
We had more options in Iraq and Vietnam. Violence was more voluntarily, the decorations still piled up. Which brings me to the Tate Modern.
There are two visions of Vietnamese youth I would like to offer.
One is the scared youth in the mural. I'm sure there were some, but
not many. They were just too smart! Sure, they had to choose sides
(Yankees or Ho). And some got caught up in re-education camps when they
couldn't flee. The mural is trys to make a "Scream",
Vietnamese-style.
It
just doesn't work! So I give a second vision. We had a student
from Hanoi stay with us for a year. He studied a fifth year in high
school while he scholarshipped for an American college. He found
one, stuck around for a masters and was last heard of wheeling and dealing in
Hong Kong.
If
the first vision is true, it leads to copious amounts of guilt across our
fruited plains. If the second version is true, then we are still helping
reshape that proud country toward liberty and freedom.
Sometimes violence is mandatory, sometimes it is voluntarily. But
if the lions lay down with the lambs too quickly, it's another case of
lamb chops for dinner!
