Second World War

May 29, 2004

Today is the beginning of a 3-day holiday here in the United States.

It is called Memorial Day Weekend. For many Americans, it is a time

for fun. Many millions of people go to the ocean to go surfing or

swimming or to play volleyball on the beach. Many millions more

travel to the mountains to see the flowers and to listen to the birds.

Officially, the holiday is in memory of the soldiers and sailors

who have died in America's wars. Political leaders gather in

cemetaries and give speeches about bravery and heroism, and about

sacrfice for one's country. Bands play patriotic songs while

thousands of red, white, and blue flags fly everywhere.

This year, the holiday has special significance because in the

city called Washington, there is a new monument being dedicated. This

is a large memorial with a fountain in the middle and columns all

around. It is in honor of the 400,000 Americans who died in the

Second World War, 1939-45.

It is proper that they should do this. You can say what you like

about more recent wars, but times were different 60 years ago. A

psychopathic killer had assembled the most powerful army in the

history of the world. He had used it to conquer 20 countries and to

murder many millions of people. He talked openly about enslaving the

entire world and about killing many millions more men, women and

children, about causing the eradication of entire nations and the

ending of many proud traditions.

America tried to stay out of the fight, but could not. She sent

her best men, ordinary young boys taken from their farms and their

offices and their factories. They died many thousands of miles from

home, in fields in France and on mountainsides in Italy and on

beaches in the Pacific. The world would be a darker and more sinister

place today if Hitler had won that war. But he did not. And this

should forever be a cause for celebration.

So let us remember and honor the soldiers of the US, the UK,

India, Russia, France, Poland, China, and all the other nations who

fought to prevent the enslavement of all.

Let me quote (or at least paraphrase) the wise wizard Gandalf

from the Lord of the Rings: "It is not our task to defeat all evil

for all time. It is our task merely to defeat the evil that stands

before us today, and to leave to others the task of defeating

whatever evil may arise in the future."

The war of the 1940s represented a great triumph over evil. The

fact that evil was not eradicated completely does not diminish the

importance of the victory. Let us celebrate that victory as a

reminder that goodness can defeat even the most powerful and

seemingly invincible evil. If good won once 60 years ago, it can do so

again now.

Sister Usha

May 29, 2004

WW2 was a glorious war where priorities were very clear, until the decimation of

hundreds of thousands of civilians when the A-bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and

Hiroshima. In many ways, that one single act balanced the good/evil equations

for America as far as future karma. But nonetheless it was a glorious war, and

the last such war where things were so clear cut. America acted in a mad and

outrageous fashion, and showed that the outsome of war for the future would be

mad and outrageous. Since then, the fact that America still likes to engage in

war every ten years or so shows that America was overtaken by the madness, and

now one has to ask, "Where are the clear cut priorities? Where is the glory, and

where are the heros?" because war now is just insane!

But to all those whose lives are prematurely shortened by war, I would like to

say a prayer, that they should feel as little fear as possible, and that their

lives not be wasted, but that someday all the blood spilled worldwide might

truely lead to a lasting peace, where war can be only distantly remembered, and

humankind can move on to the real problems facing planet Earth like pollution,

hunger, species decimation, preservation of plants and unique biospheres, and

education, and health. All the money that goes into war, when it could go into

peace, really makes war just madness.

-

Sister Usha Devi

Saturday, May 29, 2004 7:44 AM