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September 20, 2009 - The Tragedy of War with Suicides

by Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

Just when things seem to be winding down with the war in Iraq, they seem to be gearing up with the war in Afghanistan. We just can’t seem to live in peace for very long. And of the many sadnesses about that, none is sadder than the toll such wars take on our service men and women who have no choice but to fight battles they have little to do with. The Army recently released it’s monthly suicide numbers. From January to August 110 Army soldiers committed suicide. That’s 21 more than this same period last year when the war in Iraq was even more contentious. It’s hard to image the pressure that these men and women are under. Recently I went to see the movie THE HURT LOCKER about US bomb disposal squads working to diffuse hidden roadside bombs in Iraq. I was like a dish rag by the end of it. I couldn’t believe anyone having to live under such daily pressure and tragedy. I came out of that movie knowing that I could never do that, no matter how noble the end result might be. True courage on display. And yet I wish that courage could be exercised in ways that have nothing to do with blowing up people. That we have come to this is so disheartening. And obviously it’s taking its toll on those on the front lines trying to stay normal in very abnormal circumstances. In 1965 Pope Paul VI pleaded before the United Nations, “NO MORE WAR! NEVER AGAIN WAR! IF YOU WISH TO BE BROTHERS DROP YOUR WEAPONS” Words that John Paul II reiterated in 1991. But we seem to be deaf to those words. We live in a world of desperation in which people see conflict and killing as the only means by which to execute change. I wonder sometimes if the dream of the prophet Isaiah that we will beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks will ever be realized. Have we gone too far into the throes of violence and subjugation that we no longer can hear the call to peace above the roar of guns and bombs. Men and women die everyday in the cause of peace. Or is it the cause of war? And some are dying by their own hands because war kills in all sorts of ways. I hope the conflict in Afghanistan doesn’t reach the proportions some are predicting. But if it does that there are enough of us who are willing to continue shouting "NEVER AGAIN WAR" until finally someone begins to listen.

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