BETTER THAN WAR

Saturday, July 4, 2015

BETTER THAN WAR

BETTER THAN WAR

By

Francis William Bessler

Laramie, Wyoming

7/4/2015

       Of course, I am a bit naive.  I will admit that, but naive or not, if I were President of the United States - or the President of any country - I think I would always consider meeting an adversary on some middle ground before even considering going to war with that one and his or her country. Now if my adversary does not represent a country, then I guess I would have to consider having to decide on who it was that I would be meeting on some middle ground, but even then, after deciding on some "representative" of an adversary, I would give that one a call and tell him or her that I would be willing to meet for dinner someplace and chat about our differences.  Who knows?  Maybe in discussing our differences, we would find that they are not near as essential as our similarities.

       Ideally, too, I would prefer to meet with my adversary without the advantage - or disadvantage - of clothing.  I do believe that if he and I - or even she and I - were to remove all our clothing while we meet in the middle somewhere, so to speak, it would be obvious that we are both the same.  That would be an ideal, however.  I would not insist on meeting naked.  I would simply prefer to do so in order to make a meeting as impressive as possible.  I do like impressive; and I think that impressive would be compromised a bit if my adversary were to join me in some brown suit and I were to meet with him - or her - in some blue suit.  Now maybe we could both agree on the same color of suit.  That might lessen any appearance of "being different" a little, but without clothes, I think most appearances of "being different" would be dispelled.  Nakedness would impress us of our similarities, perhaps, far more than any other way we might agree to meet.  Now, why should I want to go war with someone who is the "same as me"?  Tell me that!

       Let me offer an example.  Say that I was President George W. Bush in 2002 and I was thinking that maybe I ought to lead my country into war with one called Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq.  According to my naive approach of trying to settle things before war is necessary, I'd call ole Saddam on the phone and say, Hey, Saddam, it seems we have some differences that might lead to war if we don't try to find some way to resolve our differences.  How about you and I meet somewhere, have dinner, and talk about things?  I would prefer that we did not wear any clothes for our meeting in order to emphasize our common characters or natures, but I would not insist on that. 

       And Saddam might have responded: Well, George, I'd have to have my body guards on hand because I do not trust you, but give me sometime to think it over.  OK?  Where do you think we should meet?

       Well, Saddam, I would not mind having dinner at the White House in Washington - or maybe I could join you in Baghdad; but I guess some middle ground might be a Paris, France or an Alexandria, Egypt.

       And there it is - a beginning of the avoidance of war; but people have to want to get along to get along.  If I were the President of the United States, I could, however, make an attempt to get along with an adversary by doing all I could to "meet him in the middle."  Such an approach might not resolve in a peaceful resolution of differences, but it sure would not hurt to try either.  Would it?

       We all know, however, that it was not a President Bessler who was in charge when we Americans decided we had to oust Saddam at any price.  No!  George W. Bush was our President then - and I doubt he even considered the possibility of meeting with Saddam - at the White House, in Baghdad, in Paris, France, in Alexandria, Egypt - or anywhere at all.  Meeting with Saddam probably did not even enter his mind - anymore than it entered the mind of President Johnson or Nixon to meet with the leader of the Viet Cong in the '60s.

       In my mind, it would have been so simple to do that.  Why did it not even occur - as it probably didn't - to Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr.?  Instead, Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. chose to send thousands off to war to do with a gun what they were not willing to try to do with words - over a simple dinner and a glass of wine.  No!  They chose to send thousands of willing American soldiers off to some far away foreign land to fight for some illusive freedom for others.  Did they succeed?  Of course not - but thousands of American soldiers died or were wounded - some severely - for  causes that have all ended in chaos.  Why?

       As I see it, war is simply the aftermath of insisting on being different.  Why in Heaven's Name do we humans insist that being different is somehow far more important than the alternative?  Why do we insist on doing all we can to confirm we are different - and do almost nothing to confirm how we are the same?

       I do not believe much in law, but I do think that one law should be passed that would declare that anyone with the power to decide on war should also be required to lead the troops in war - should that one decide on such a course.  If I should decide that America should go to war, then I should have to agree to be part of it.  Who am I that I should not be willing to die in a war with which I agree?  Why should I declare myself - or my life - somehow more precious than another who I might send to war?  If I believe in a war, then let me get in there and stand in the line of fire for what I believe.  If not, let me dare not to send another in my place while sitting safely at home?

       And what would a President Bessler do if he inherited a war?  I don't know for sure, but I think I would still fight in a war if I believe that my predecessor was right in beginning a war.  Nothing would change in that light.  I would still believe that if I should send another to war, even if I did not start it, I - not someone else - would have to be willing to die for the cause of it.

       If anything at all would stop our maniac insistence on war, it would be that those who agree with it should be compelled to fight in it.  Oh, how quickly that would change things!  If George W. Bush or Dick Cheney had to go to Iraq, don some uniform, put a rifle on their back and head down the street of Baghdad looking for some enemy to kill, you can bet they would not have been so quick as to agree to war in the first place; and young men like my dear nephew, Matt Bessler, would not have gone in their place to do what they decided that America "had to do" to rid the world of a cruel dictator.

       If the famous movie star, John Wayne, had to don a uniform and go into battle with the Viet Cong and really risk his life, you can almost be sure that the movies John Wayne would have produced would not have been about Americans risking their lives to kill some enemy - who if met on some middle ground without the disadvantage of uniform would not have considered war such an attraction as shown in their films.  I like John Wayne, but often I have wondered that if he really had to pack a gun and face an enemy in real life that he would have been so gung ho on acting as the macho person he often portrayed in his movies.

       And why have we as humans lived to insist on being different?  That is what John Wayne was all about; and it is what George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are all about - being different - and deciding that "being different" is reason to go to war.  Why?  In truth, we are not different.  Why do we act like we are?  For the very life of me, I have never been able to figure out why "being different" - even though as false as it can be - is so damned important.

       When I take off my clothes, it is obvious to me that I am NO DIFFERENT than the one I would kill.  So, why should I consider it so important to go out and kill someone who is NO DIFFERENT than me?  What stupidity is that!

       We can do so much better in the future than we have done in the past - if we only come to grips with the reality of our being the same - not different.  Just imagine how "different" it could have been - and probably would have been - if George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would have met Saddam Hussein in some quiet place on this wonderful planet Earth and embraced as brothers, enjoyed some cuisine together - and settled on some compromise that would have negated the need for war?  It could have happened; but it does take realizing our how alike we all are for it to have happened.

       Imagine if President John Kennedy had met with Ho Chi Minh in Saigon in 1963, shaken hands, and embraced one another as brothers who both wanted to attain peace in this world?  There would have been no Vietnam War - in all probability.  Ho and John could have directed a whole different process than war; and 50,000 American soldiers and probably double that of Vietnamese would not have gone on to lose their lives in skirmishes that led to nothing but more chaos in the world. 

       When will we ever learn? 

ROAD TO PEACE

A Poem

By

Francis William Bessler

Atlanta, Georgia

1983 

All the armies that have ever marched

have marched in a uniform.

Many of the plights that have plagued mankind

have plagued it for the clothes it has worn.

Without a loin cloth around the waist,

man is powerless to defame.

Men know this and that’s why

their greatest ally is shame.

They build instead churches

that resound the message

for their perceived impotence

and they call on God for a crown

to bless them for their resistance.

Satan and shame,

shame and Satan –

what difference is there between the two?

For they’re both excuses

that let men hide themselves from the truth.

To defeat war,

we don’t have to worry about the gun.

Remove the lie from around the waist –

and the road to peace will have begun.

CONSENSUS ON IRAQ

(A Free Style Song)

By

Francis William Bessler

Laramie, Wyoming

9/2003

REFRAIN 1:

We’re stabbing people in the back in Iraq

and we’re turning our face from Jesus.

We’re stabbing people in the back in Iraq

and it seems to be the general consensus.

Several thousand years ago,

a man named Jesus walked this earth.

He said, no matter what you do,

violence is never justified.

If you want to enter the Kingdom of my Father,

there’s only one way in;

and that, My Friend,

is the way of being kind  – but -

Refrain 1.

Jesus said to be kind to your enemy

and not just your friends.

Bombing the guilty may seem smart,

but it kills the innocent as well.

An eye for an eye and a life for a life

is the wail of only fools.

Two thousand years ago, he said it.

That’s what he came to tell – but -

Refrain 1.

When Peter drew his sword

for his friend, Jesus, to defend.

Jesus quickly scolded him

to put his sword back into its sheath.

Then rather than do violence to another,

he let them put him on a cross.

To do different would have entailed force

and his soul to make weak – but, still –

Refrain 1.

When will we ever learn

that to kill is to kill yourself?

To harm or to punish another

does the same to your soul.

No matter why you do it –

if you kill another man,

you’ve lost a chance to be brave

and attend wisdom’s school – but -

Refrain 1.

In September of 2001,

some fools destroyed twin towers

expecting to gain revenge

for some previous hurt done to them.

In March of 2003,

victims chose to strike at others

to even the score perhaps,

but no hurt can it ever mend – and -

Refrain 1.

What fools we were when Jesus lived

and how deaf we still are.

Lessons then were never heard,

yet for those lessons, Jesus died.

We still continue to defend life with force

and think we are not vain.

How little we have learned by one man’s life

to march on and on as blind –  still -

Refrain 1.

A wise man does not kill

because earlier he was killed;

for if he does, it will go on and on

and he will have to kill again.

There’s only one way to be free

and that’s not to take a life.

Instead be kind, even to the cruel,

lest you become one of them.

REFRAIN 2:

Let’s not stab anyone –

in the back - or anywhere;

and let’s not turn our face from Jesus.

Let’s be kind to all who are - everywhere

and let that be our new consensus.

Repeat Refrain 2 several times.

BETTER THAN WAR

By

Francis William Bessler

Laramie, Wyoming

6/5/2006

REFRAIN:

I’ll meet you in the park.

I’ll meet you in the street.

I’ll meet you in my yard.

I’ll meet you where you be.

We will have a wondrous time

just being what we are

and find that life has always

been better than war.

I’ll go with you on a walk -

and leave my clothes behind

so that you can see -

we’re two of a kind.

I’ll meet you in my home. 

I’ll meet you in yours.

I’ll meet you just as I am -

and never more be bored. 

Refrain.

We’ll let the kids be themselves. 

We’ll let them take a look.

We’ll let them find for themselves –

they’re as wondrous as a book.

I think it’s time that we stopped -

acting like we’re not the same

or that being different -

should be grounds for shame.  

Refrain.

War is really only –

combat between two –

where neither one is content –

and neither loves the truth.

The truth is really only –

that God’s in Everything.

You cannot hurt a brother –

of equal Divinity. 

Refrain.

So, let me be your friend –

knowing you are Divine;

and if you’d like –

be a friend of mine. 

Refrain.

FINISH (2 times):

We will have a wondrous time

just being what we are

and find that life will always  be

better than war.