In my youth, living alone in an apartment in Atlanta, I decided I needed a gun for protection. An older relative who had gone off to World War II at the age of 18 cautioned me — not, as I might have expected, about gun safety or the possibility that some nefarious person might shoot me with my own gun, but about the seriousness of killing another person.
“It’s something you’d have to live with the rest of your life,” he said.
At the time, I was annoyed with him for casting doubt on my maturity and good sense, but today as I reflect on the war, this conversation comes back to me.
So I ask: Does the same hold true in a communal sense? Are the deaths that happen in war a burden which all of us and each of us will have to live with the rest of our lives?
A mass killer, a serial killer — and the terrorists are both of these — must be stopped. But no matter how just the cause, any violent act tends to defile the person who performs it. This is one reason among many why violence must be the last resort in any situation. Not only does it hurt the one on the receiving end, but it is almost inevitable that when we strike out with violence, we are ourselves diminished.
The U.S. bishops have said, “For resort to war to be justified, all peaceful alternatives must have been exhausted” (The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response, 1983). I don’t know for sure whether or not the bombing and ground invasion of Afghanistan are indeed the only viable alternatives, whether there is no other way to stop the murderers (though few others seem to have been tried). However, I do know that my heart is not at ease. When I ponder the probability of starvation and disease among the Afghan population this winter, I feel myself and our nation diminished. I believe it is true that we and the world will have to live with the consequences of this war for the rest of our lives, and I want our leaders to be very certain that it is the only means to peace with justice.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. . . . If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” (Luke 6:27-28, 32)