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Remembrance, Forgiveness, and the Celebration of Life

A Sermon by the Rev. Susan Manker-Seale
May 25, 2003

[Reading 583: “The Young Dead Soldiers” by Archibald MacLeish]

I don’t know a lot about war. My mother’s brothers were both in World War II, but they lived all their lives in Texas, so we didn’t see them much. My father was a pacifist Quaker seminary student, and obviously he wouldn’t enlist. My older brother missed the draft for Nam by one year, and my cousin, who did enlist just so he could get the marine education he was wanting, found out that he couldn’t shoot at the targets if they were in the shape of people. Consequently, my father, who was a draft counselor as well as a minister, went over to California to get him out of boot camp. Needless to say, there weren’t very many, or any, war stories in my household growing up.

I don’t know a lot about war, and I do believe I am a pacifist, but I have never put that to the test in any personal situations. Still, I speak from that point of view, and know that it is a limited point of view, even though one which is upheld by many great religious leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and the Universalist Rev. Olympia Brown. Our religious texts tell us of the teachings of peace by sages held wise throughout centuries, sages like Lao Tse, like the Buddha, and like Jesus of Nazareth, depending on which section of the Gospels you’re reading. Ancient wisdom grapples with human nature, it seems, to keep us in a state of conflict about peace and war, and how to bring about the one without resorting to the other.

It is not surprising then that Memorial Day comes with conflicting feelings about whether and how to celebrate, how to remember those who have died, and how to give meaning to those “young dead soldiers” Archibald MacLeish writes about, but who, to us, are our husbands and sons and brothers and fathers and uncles, and wives and daughters and sisters and mothers and aunts… who are our dearest friends and partners:  those we loved.

I don’t think we can measure the meaning of their deaths by whether the war they fought and died in was a “just” war. Young people enlist in the armed forces for many reasons, and I really believe the least of them is an understanding of the reality of war and battles, suffering and death. Like my cousin, young folks enlist based on grand notions, on a vision of great ideals, on a love of country and the values we hold as a people, or even just to get an education. I think most of them probably enlist because they want to protect this country and to protect the oppressed peoples of the world. I really don’t think they can know, just as I can’t really know, the horrors that might await them if we were to send them to war.

My opinions. My imaginings. I have only seen the movies and read the books and heard the stories from parishioners. I don’t know what goes on in the minds of young folks enlisting in our services, so it is conjecture. All we can do is ask each other and be willing to tell our stories. But my point is just what the signs say all over town: “We Support Our Troops!” We don’t necessarily support the war (some of us do), but we do hope for the survival of those young people sent overseas and wish them well. Those who have died these past few years, and over the past century, can be remembered for the ideals they held, the vision they followed of a better world, and the love they cherished for the United States of America and the freedoms we hold as a people.

Of course, every life, each individual life, is worthy of cherishing. We celebrate the lives of these young dead soldiers because they lived and loved, and someone mourns their death just as we all mourn all the casualties of acts of war. Memorial Day invites us to remember them and to try to give their deaths meaning as their lives had meaning and value. Yet, sometimes it is hard to do that when issues of forgiveness get in the way. If we don’t agree with war, can we forgive the acts of violence our young people engaged in? Can we forgive those on the “other side” who killed our loved ones? Even after a country has become our ally over time, people still harbor ill feelings toward them. A simple accent can bring feelings of anger or rage or hatred towards a people who once were our enemies in spite of their now being our “friends.” Forgiveness is a practice that enables us to move on with our lives and to be able to remember our dead with gratitude that they lived instead of anger at the injustice that they died.

As we become more and more a global community, as we come to identify with peoples the world over rather than just our own country, it will be harder to continue this last resort of war as an option. Every person who has given their life in war should be remembered through acts of peace and good works for justice. If an act of war took their lives, it seems fitting that we engage in acts of peace so that no more of our young will lose their lives or suffer or be forced to kill others no matter how great the cause. Gandhi showed us a non-violent way to change oppressors. It can and has been done, when leaders commit to the path of peace. This we ought to do in the names of all our young dead soldiers.

This Memorial Day, we are faced with a huge conflict, those of us who believe that war should not be an option and that forgiveness is necessary on the path to peace. This Memorial Day we remember not only those who died in the line of duty to our country, but also those thousands of civilians who were killed by Al Qaeda fanatics in the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, and the airplanes they hijacked. We haven’t had war on our home ground since Pearl Harbor, and we are still in shock that such could happen to us, here, to all those innocents. How can we ever forgive those twisted young men who did that? How can we ever forgive the twisted minds that teach young men that such murder is righteous in their god’s eyes? The peacemakers have a hard time when evil comes to our own doorstep.

I feel the conflict deeply, and so, I assume many of you do, too. I feel this conflict, and I understand our government’s desire for retaliation. We have engaged in two wars now as a result - yes, I believe they are connected. I understand the desire to stop the atrocities of Saddam’s regime, to stop the tortures going on the world over. But we’re not bombing the whole world. Yet. Are we facing years of war? Are we on a roll?

I am in conflict because I am glad whenever a people are liberated, and I still believe that there is a peaceful way to do that. But I’m not sure. I really don’t know. My pacifism is based on a trust in people who taught an ancient truth. It is hearing that truth ring in my ears saying there is another path to peace. That peace is the way. The path to peace is peace itself. Haven’t we heard that? Who said that?

I think it is fitting that so many people celebrate Memorial Day with joy. They go out and picnic, ride boats and swim, have backyard bar-be-cues and love their families. Our young dead soldiers are remembered through acts of love and play and of the freedoms that our armed forces enable us to have in this dangerous and crazy world. It is good to celebrate life in the face of death. It is a sacred act to celebrate life and the values we hold dear, especially the lives of our loved ones. Perhaps if we start with cherishing the lives of those closest to us, that sense of the sacredness of all life will pan out in larger and larger circles until the whole world is included, and no one can justify war anymore.

I wonder, would that “give them their meaning?” As MacLeish wrote, “We were young, they say. We have died. Remember us.” How shall we remember them? How shall we give them meaning?

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Northwest Tucson