From Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal to Blessed Are the Peacemakers

It's likely obvious that someone with my politics would be glad that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has at long last been repealed. DADT was a stupid, discriminatory policy & law from the outset, making little sense, & pandering to the basest sort of homophobia & stereotyping. So I am both glad & relieved that President Obama will soon, by his signature, send DADT to the failed policies' slag pile of history, and lesbian women & gay men will soon be able to serve in the US military openly without fear of discharge simply for having her / his sexual orientation known.


At the same time, as a Friend on Facebook pointed out, there are many ways to serve this country other than joining the military. Many in the US of North America forget / ignore the idea that the military provides only one option. As a decades-old anti-war activist, the military option has always been my least favorite. The nearly-exclusive focus on military service seems to be a counter-reaction against much of the mythology that developed after the end of the Vietnam War, when the public began to hear stories about how poorly troops were treated when they returned to the US, that they were spat upon, called "Baby killer," shunned, etc. (None of the "spat-upon" stories was ever verified.) The cry went up that we should never again blame those doing the front-line fighting for the failed policies of their generals & civilian leadership back home. I strongly concur with that sentiment. What troubles me is that this determination seems to have morphed into an almost-uncritical idealization of the military.


This idealization is unfortunate, because it ignores other forms of service in which people, young and old, are engaged. Opportunities exist, from teaching through Teach for America, the goal of which is to end educational inequality; to union organizing in the health care industry; to joining the Peace Corps. Someone seeking spiritually-based service could become a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps or the Maryknoll Missionaries Lay Missioners. Now, granted, a Peace Corps or Maryknoll Lay Missioner would likely be sent to serve outside of the US; still, in addition to serving people in a developing country, upon return to the US, he or she will bring back valuable knowledge & experience to share with his / her US community.

And while I am delighted that DADT has been repealed -- because it was blatantly discriminatory against gay & lesbian people -- to me, there has always been a deeper issue, a deeper question. That is, the issue isn't gay / lesbian soldiers (air personnel, sailors, marines); rather, the issue is dead soldiers (air personnel, sailors, marines). Now that we've ended "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," it's time to get back to ending war. Not just the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, but war and the spectre of war.

The issue isn't gay / lesbian soldiers; it's dead soldiers. The US has spent -- wasted -- billions of dollars on the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan & additional billions of dollars on new weapons systems; weapons systems' r&d; & the maintenance of a nuclear stockpile that could still destroy everyone & everything on the planet several times over. To sustain the wars & weapons, & to maintain our consumption-oriented lifestyles -- or, our consumptive lifestyles -- we have put this nation into an unsustainable debt & deficit, borrowing money from the People's Republic of China. By dedicating so much of our economy & our social fabric, our national energy, our national psyche to the products of war & the waging of war, we have little economy, energy, psyche, or social fabric to put toward those efforts & products that help to create & sustain that which fosters life, health, social well-being, a healthy economy & healthy environment. (If I recall from my learning in the mid-1970's, this is basic Marxist analysis.)

The issue isn't gay / lesbian soldiers; the issue is dead soldiers. With its current national & international adversarial ideology, the US & the world faces increasingly grave & less controllable national & international crises. This is especially obvious when one considers the nuclear weapons' sabre-rattling by North Korea & Iran (despite denials, I suspect Iran would like a nuclear weapon). Other non-yet-nuclear-armed countries may be heading that way. And it is widely accepted that enough nuclear materials from former Soviet Union nations to fuel at least crude weapons if in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists, to say nothing of poor control over the nuclear materials in Pakistan. How much good has our current -- & long-standing -- ideology done? How well has it served us & / or the world? How could we begin to get beyond this adversarial ideology that makes certain countries & peoples our enemies & others our friends?

The issue isn't gay / lesbian soldiers; it's dead soldiers. In just a few days, we will celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace. Jesus of Nazareth, born poor, in an occupied country, belonging to a minority religion, lived, taught, & died in a time similar to our own. Enemies were all about; one entity held imperial power over a much larger majority; religious & social rules & regulations strictly regulated the behavior of people regarding religion, society, & each other. Jesus, poor, Jewish, born in a barn had no legitimate authority to teach, preach, heal or forgive, yet he did all of that, and more. He called people to metanoia, to conversion, to a radically altered way of thinking, acting, living, and loving. In a world in which the Roman Empire exacted a terrible price upon all who disagreed & acted against it. Jesus called people to trust the Holy One -- HaShem -- & to trust him -- Jesus. He called people, his disciples, his followers & those who went with him from town to town to a new & radical love, including love of their enemies -- including, I imagine, the Romans -- and to not be afraid, during a time when fear likely made a good deal of sense.

"Be not afraid." "Love your enemies." "Turn the other cheek." "Blessed are the Peacemakers..."

Ah, yes, Blessed are the Peacemakers... None of what I've written above is anything new. Jesus came to call us to a radical revision / re-vision of our lives; he came as G-D's Preferential Option for the Poor, the dispossessed, the oppressed. He came to teach, to preach, to heal, to forgive, and to witness the radical, unconditional love of HaShem. In living as he did, in teaching & preaching as he did, the Roman authorities considered him a threat & feared he would lead an insurrection during Pesach in Jerusalem. Some of the Jewish religious authorities whose power & positions depended upon staying in the good graces of the Roman Empire, feared that Jesus would stir up the people & that no one would be able to control them or prevent a rebellion. So the Roman soldiers arrested Jesus & later executed him by crucifixion at the orders of Pontius Pilate, the top Roman authority in Jerusalem.

Blessed are the Peacemakers ~~ No, I'm not writing anything new, anything that anyone reading this doesn't already know. What it all tells me, however, is that Jesus still calls me / us to a radically revisioned / re-visioned way to live ~~ a way of peace; a way of solidarity with the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized; a way of increased simplicity & quiet; a way of greater attention, focus, consciousness & conscience; a way of greater faith & trust in G-D.

The Season of Advent is a time of waiting & paying attention, listening to the signs of the times, & listening to the silence. In preparing to welcome the Lord Jesus, the Incarnation of G-D born into our midst as one of us, we are called to prepare our own hearts & minds; to peel off & discard those layers that have accumulated to keep us from following Christ -- the fears & anxieties; the accretions of "stuff" that society insists will make us happy & content; the desires that keep us from our deeper desire for G-D as the center & source of our lives. As we wait, pay attention & listen, we come closer to being prepared & thus ready to say, "Maranatha -- Come, Lord Jesus."