There Is Only One Winner In War – A Brief Reflection

In 1962, Thomas Merton wrote an essay titled, “Target Equals City.” He made mimeographed copies and sent them off to some of his trusted supporters because he knew the essay would never get past the censors in his Order. His thoughts on war, especially in an age when leaders in the Catholic Church were fully supportive of the war in Vietnam and the larger Cold War, weren’t very popular. I can hear the order’s leadership telling him to keep quiet and don’t rock the boat.

In an age where massive destruction on a global scale was the logical outcome of total nuclear war, there would be no “winners.” When I was in the Air Force, we would have training exercises where skills would be learned and practiced in the event that we ever found ourselves in an environment filled with biological, chemical, or nuclear radiation contamination we would be able to survive. It was almost surreal as I “safely” removed my “contaminated” chemical warfare ensemble and went through the decontamination process. Was there a “win” scenario? I’m really not sure that there was. And there definitely wasn’t a “win” scenario for the civilians caught in the middle or for the rest of creation.

When I consider the history of “modern” warfare and the weapons used just in the 1900’s, I shudder. Walton and Okaloosa Counties in Florida where I once lived have contaminated ground water thanks to Agent Orange testing during the Vietnam era. When I was deployed to Uzbekistan in 2005 there were signs on either side of the running track. Caution, Keep Out—Radiation Hazard and Caution, Keep Out—Unexploded Ordinance and Chemical Hazard… not exactly a reassuring bit of information to have. So, winners? Anyone? The only “winners” are the people invested in the military-industrial complex (actually, they are not winning, they are only profiting). That is the only caveat I would add to the below statement from Merton.

There is only one winner, only one winner in war. The winner is war itself. Not truth, not justice, not liberty, not morality. These are the vanquished. War wins, reducing them to complete submission. [War] makes truth serve violence and falsehood. [War] causes justice to declare not what is just but what is expedient as well as cruel. [War] reduces the liberty of the victorious side to a servitude equal to that of the tyranny which they attacked, in defence of liberty. Though moralists may intend and endeavour to lay down rules for war, in the end war lays down rules for them. [War] does not find it hard to make them change their minds. — Passion for Peace: The Social Essays, p. 28

As the violence in the Middle East continues to spiral out of control, my prayer is that somehow something will change. That in some way the vision of the prophets Isaiah and Micah will come to pass. …they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3)

Fr. Louis Merton, will you pray with us? From our lips to God’s ear, dear reader, let us pray.