War and Peace

 I've been reading about the environmental costs of war, and thinking about our human tendency to get into explosive conflicts. It would seem that on our planet, there is almost always a war going on. And just now the dramatic situation between Russia and Ukraine is taking center stage in our newscasts and maybe in our consciousness as well. It is hard for us to take in the human suffering happening, the injuries, the grieving for loved ones lost and the loss of a whole way of life. And of course war takes a terrible toll not only on the people who get killed in these conflicts, but also on the environment. Soil and water are polluted with toxic substances, animals are killed, landscapes are destroyed, forests are flattened. It is ironic to me that countries like the U.S. work hard to focus on remedies for threats like climate change, laying down regulations and policies, yet there is an exception made for the whole military establishment. It's kind of like we want to care for the earth because we know our future depends upon it, but war is different, above the rules. War pulls out all stops. One hand protects and nurtures, the other hand prepares to make war.

Probably because I was raised a Quaker, war has never made sense to me. The men in my Quaker community went to prison rather than go to war, or when the government was friendlier to pacifists, they did "alternative service" in mental hospitals or outdoor construction. Yet I know that some of my college classmates thought that pacifists were just cowards, and criticized them scathingly. We all have different frames of reference. War has been a part of the human condition for as long as our records show. It might have been small wars in prehistoric landscapes, only affecting small populations. But increasingly, war has become something that affects the whole planet. A war between two countries brings in other countries on either side, with input of weapons and support. And the resulting conflagration becomes more and more devastating. This year it is happening as Russia invades Ukraine, throwing everything it has against this small democracy, wanting to take over. Although war seems to always be happening somewhere, this particular war has resonated with other democracies around the world. They've become inspired by Ukraine's resistance. It feels like a David and Goliath kind of story, and we're rooting for David. I can be sucked right into that sentiment, hoping that Ukraine will hang on.

And yet the scenario of war makes so little sense. I imagine myself looking down on our planet from some removed space, seeing the whole tapestry of oceans and forests, cities and fields. From that vantage point I can see evidence of creativity and caring, a network of roads for traveling, many indications of human intelligence and industry, beautiful buildings, organized  neighborhoods. But then I also see areas where humans are killing each other, destroying all those carefully created living spaces. And in my outer space body/mind, I think: why are they doing this!? Why destroy what they have built? Why destroy each other? What possible gain can there be?

Of course, the answer to those questions is complicated. These conflicts are the result of complex historical relationships, and anger, and different beliefs, and the wish to possess. When people do not agree, that dissonance can grow and become too uncomfortable to live with. And when we get angry, sometimes that feeling grows and grows, and we want to strike out. This response is apparently in our nature, and perhaps has grown into one of those legendary fatal flaws. Often the people at the top, the leaders with the most power, fan the flames of anger and lead forces on their side to fight the enemy.  There must be a kind of pumped up excitement and camaraderie when hundreds of men and women go out to fight. But the outcome surely is always sad. 

It is hard to watch from the sidelines as these brutal world events take place. It's hard to feel such personal helplessness as we hear the daily replay of attacks. I look to other life forms to get some perspective. Do other species try to kill groups within their larger family? Is this just a part of nature? I don't have the answer to this, but I imagine that technology has changed war so that the damage it wreaks is much greater than anything else in nature. And like climate change, it threatens our very future on this planet. As a species, we have big challenges in front of us if we mean to build a sustainable home planet. From our perspective today, things look pretty daunting. Can we do it? I don't know.

However, when the world's problems seem hopelessly impossible to solve, I lead myself back to the present moment. The truth is that in the moment, there is much to marvel at, to love, to appreciate. Most of us live at least near an inspiring and beautiful natural area. And all of us have some things to appreciate: friends or family, the beauty of nature, music and art, the resonance shared with a particular writer, the sound of the wind, the smell of spring flowers.....  When I bring myself back to the moment, I usually feel an intense thankfulness for being alive here on earth. And though climate change threatens our future, this makes me even more appreciative of what we have now, thankful for the trees and birds, beautiful sunsets, gardens, forests. All we really ever have is the moment we are in. As I am letting myself breathe deeply into the present, I am also holding in the warm glow of that moment our human brothers and sisters across the world entrenched in war, and the rest of life there that is also suffering. I send through my mind's eye a moment of peace to them all. As a small person in a faraway place, it is what I can do.