War and thougths on the invasion of Ukraine

Written March 5, 2022

Why does man seek war?

To redefine lines …
To reassert power …
To say, ‘This is mine!’?

War comes knocking for us all.
Fighting thoughts and lies.
Fighting flesh and kin.

War comes for our families and far-off Facebook friends.
War comes for our ideas of self and superiority.
War comes for thoughts and feelings and faith.
War comes for laid-out plans and the illusion of control.
War comes for us all.

Sometimes I am the architect, the general of these wars.
Sometimes I am both the enemy and the victim.
Sometimes I am apathetic to it all.
Sometimes I cheer for both sides.
Other times I am the one picking the fight.

What is war?

Because as much as I like to think of it as some far-off thing separated by oceans and languages and cultures — war is everywhere.

And what does war say about me?

Well — I don’t know.

I know I am made of the same flesh, same bones, same spirit and soul as those who invade borders and bomb nuclear plats and lay siege on citizens.

I know I like to see myself as so much better, so much holier than those autocrats and false diplomats.

But I am marked by sin, just as them.

Maybe that is it.

Maybe the fact of war doesn’t matter so much. After all, war is not defined by formal declarations. Maybe it’s the response to war that defines it. It is started by one person’s (or country’s) action, but defined by another’s.

War is never pretty.

It’s driven by a sense of right and wrong. Of tit for tat. By pride and prejudice.

It is the worst parts of us on full display.

If the ugliness of war doesn’t move me, what does that say? “Let the chips fall where they may”?

But picking no side is the same as picking a side.

Because apathy has no place in war. It demands a reaction and response — or face a complete bloodbath.

So I must respond.

I may not be the soldier fighting, but I must respond to the wars within and wars out there. I must feel injustice and feel the tensions. I must win the war between apathy and overwhelmed.

Sleeps dogs do not lie — they all awake eventually.

Because war comes for us all, no matter how righteous or self-righteous we are.

The question is — how will we respond?