Disclaimer: As a founding member of the
Idaho Peace Coalition
I have on occasion written commentary on behalf of the organization.
The following blog post is in no way the opinion of the membership of
the organization and consists solely of my own thoughts.
This Sunday June 21st
individuals and families will be honoring and celebrating the fathers
of America, the living and the dead. An activity that has it's roots
in the peace-and-reconciliation campaigns of the post-Civil War era
when the activist Julia Ward Howe issued her “Mother’s Day Proclamation” and eventually in 1972 Richard Nixon
finally signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a federal holiday.
My focus today is not the fathers but the children. Specifically the
children left behind in the wake of the wars that took their fathers
away.
The military has estimated 22,000
American children lost a parent in the Vietnam War and nearly 5,000
lost a mom or dad to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are
termed Gold Star Kids. In her "Appeal to womanhood
throughout the world" which later became known as the "Mother's
Day Proclamation" Julia Ward Howe said, in part, " Our sons
shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to
teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, women of one country,
will be too tender of those of another country, to allow our sons to
be trained to injure theirs." But via governmental sponsored indoctrination of patriotism the message of our mothers have be
overridden and war is framed as a noble endeavor. Theodore Roosevelt
said, “The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to
humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer.” This mindset permeates
our culture. Unfortunately not the words of President Kennedy: “"War
will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector
enjoys the same reputation and prestige.”
Since the event of 911 the drums of war
have increasingly permeated and dominated the America psyche. Nearly
3,000 children under the age of 18 lost a parent on September 11. The average age was 9. A total of 108 were born in the months after their fathers died.
The results of this warfooting continues on today. Sgt. Maj. Wardell
Turner (buried January 6, 2015) was a recent soldier to die in our
wars. He was a husband and father of 5 children.
I am left wondering if the desire for revenge or the desire for the
end of wars is the primary emotion of these fatherless children after
the initial impact of their loss? Will they be compelled to serious
contemplate war? Where will they seek their guidance and in what
direction will those who offer it send them? My hope of course is
that they enter the realms of peace and reconciliation.
Also it is well to remember that deaths
of these fathers are not always the results of the wounds suffered in
battle, but by the hidden wounds of war. In 2013, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs released a study
that covered suicides from 1999 to 2010, which showed that roughly 22
veterans were committing suicide per day, or one every 65 minutes.
The number of those who were fathers (and mothers) I do not know but
I am sure their is a measurable number. Is this the “ultimate sacrifice” the war makers like to emphasize in their propaganda? I
doubt it. Just as the 1991 blanket ban on photographs of the coffins of the returning dead soldiers
put in place under President George Bush number one the powers that
be also wish to hide this under that same blanket. It isn't good for
the business of war.
The children of the dead. They are referred to as Gold Star Children. The challenges of these children are vast and complicated. Mitty Griffis Mirrer speaks of the ""silenceis a common thread for gold star children from the Vietnam era".
Challenges that continue for them to this day. What of the future
fatherless children of our Endless War on Terror? Besides the loss of their fathers there is also other suffering of War Children but that may be a subject of a future post.
Here is a trailer for a film on these Goldstar Children'which can be seen in full on Netflix
At the end of this post are some links to organizations associated
with the issues of war and children. These links are not quite like the focus on peace the September Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows have. There are many organizations that deal with children and war with
different focuses but for now I will keep it narrow.
In closing I wish to say my heart goes
out to the children who do not have their fathers with them this
Fathers Day because of the revenges of war. Not just American
children but to all the children of the world. I wish to encourage
mothers and fathers to teach your children the ways of peace and do
your best to explain to them what wars is as best you can for their
age group. Otherwise the propaganda of war will be fed to them by our
government through school, the airwaves and the internet from the USA, ISIS or Israel.. I invite
you to take a deep breath with thoughts of the dead while celebrating
our fathers and then resolve to work in earnest for a peaceful world,
one without war. For more resources to assist with this please visit
my website and explore my Peace Resources Page. Blessings.
