Peace by Carol Wolman
As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we might review the history of the past 60 years, and see if we learned anything in August 1945.
I was barely four years old, yet somehow I knew that the world had changed irrevocably. Things were grimmer, even though the war was over. As I got older, I came to understand that nuclear weapons should have made war obsolete, because of the possibility of a nuclear holocaust that would eradicate most of life on earth.
The UN was founded that same year, embodying the vision of Isaiah 2: 4 "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." This verse is inscribed on the "Isaiah wall" on the UN Plaza. There is also a statue depicting a man beating a sword into a plowshare. It was a hopeful moment.
Only 5 years later, the Korean War broke out.
In despair, I wrote the following poem:
War, war, war
Will never the earth be free?
Will never the nations come to peace?
Will people never agree?
Why must there be fighting,
Hatred, oppression and fear?
And why must young men go to war,
Leaving all that they hold dear?
The war is weary of war and hate,
Like Noah after the flood.
May peace soon come as a rainbow,
And free us from wars of blood.
Many years later, I have the same questions and the same prayer. I reflect that we have seen horrendous wars over the past 60 years, yet thermonuclear weapons have not been used. But then I reflect on the widespread use of radioactive weaponry and the contamination of the gene pool in the past 15 years, and I start to despair again.
Clearly, we will continue to have wars, as long as we have a "war president", and as long as Halliburton's profits are 287% per year from war racketeering. Cheney is itching to nuke Iran, although any rationale for doing so has been undercut by a report that Iran is at least 10 years away from developing nuclear weapons.
We desperately need peace, so that we can start cleaning up the environment and work together to leave a habitable planet to our descendants. We need peace so that we can stop the dispersion of radioactivity and clean up what we can.
We will not have peace until we oust the war criminals from power and bring them to justice. Impeachment by the American people's representatives in Congress is the peaceful way to do this.
We need to grow up quickly as a species, if we are to survive. We need to find our Buddha nature, Christ consciousness, samadhi. Our wise ones have always taught peace. All the major religions advocate peace and depict the deity as a giver of peace.
Psalm 85: 8I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for He will speak peace unto His people.
In the name of the Prince of Peace, Carol Wolman
Carol S. Wolman. MD
is a psychiatrist and lifelong peace activist.
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