Oh, here I go, jumping in all late and everything. For any who aren't already aware, I'm a staunch pacifist. And yes, I'd lay my freedom down to stand before God after my death without the knowledge that I took other lives. I don't think my freedom is worth other people's lives, quite frankly. Or rather, that the heart of my freedom is my relationship with God, and no one can take that away. I don't *need* to practice my religion openly; my religion is my everyday life, my testimony is kindness and love and honesty, and nothing that happens to these inconsequential and ephemeral concepts we call "nations" can change the heart of my reality, which is God.
I appreciate that those in the military are doing what they feel it necessary to do. Or, more accurately, some are doing that. Quite frankly, though it may sound awful, I will be forthright and say I've also met a lot of folks in the military who just plain wanted the benefits and cash and came from poor families and couldn't afford college. Not everyone puts on the uniform because they have some high and mighty ideals about preserving the American way of life and freedom. An awful lot of kids do it because they felt they had precious few other options, which is more a statement of the US and real equality than dedication to "nation."
At any rate, I appreciate that those who feel it is their calling are doing what they feel called to do. I would not be unkind to them, any more than I am unkind to anyone. But I do not have to agree simply because by chance I was born here and am told I am "American." I don't bow to flags and nation-states and temporary leaders and things of this world. I don't believe the cost to beings- human and not- is worth salvaging an emphemeral social experiment. Because that is what we are, and what ALL societies are. In every time and in every empire, people feel threatened and go to war. And the passing of time erases every society from the planet- either through transformation to something else entirely or through domination by others or through outstripping resource bases and collapse. That is the fact of history, and like each individual must face death, every society/empire faces an end, which is only the beginning of a new society.
In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter whether I am a citizen of the US or not, whether I have these "freedoms" or not. Society is a cage of some sort no matter how enticing or lush it appears, yet if we would but embrace it, we are inherently free. That freedom which matters most deeply is inalienable, no matter how awful the prison of our society becomes. I am not against freedom, not at all. But I refuse to have other US folks tell me I should be grateful for people who kill and die for "me." I have not asked for such a cost, nor would I accept it. I am tired of being told I am ungrateful for something that I perceive as horrific and would not request to be given. Of course I am not grateful! I do not believe my one life, lived the way I want to live it, is worth the cost of countless others. No- I say I will hold on to my ultimate freedom- my freedom to choose peace, to embrace forgiveness on a global scale (not only personal, but blanketing all of humanity, as Christ showed us)- my freedom to stand up and say "Not in my name." I will hold on to my freedom to stand before God without the blood of other beings on my hands, without sacrificing what is most sacred and what doesn't belong to humanity for the sake of a temporary and fleeting identity- that I am "American."
I am not American. I was born in the US, through no choice of my own. I live here. I contribute what I can in the ways I feel are ethical. But *I am not American.* I am a human being. I am a child of God. I am a creature upon the earth. As such, my alliance is with LIFE. I take only those lives that are absolutely necessary- what I need to eat- which is proper for all creatures on the earth. I will not take lives for all that is unnecessary, including my desire to be "free." Because in pursuing such "freedom," I enslave my soul. I burden myself with death, with sacrifice to an idol, which is my "identity" and my "nation."
I belong to no one but the earth and God. I belong to Life. Life does not belong to me.
Quite frankly, and I know this is intensely radical- I could care less what happens to the constitution. Or rather, I know what will happen to the constitution. Like all documents in all empires, it will eventually fade to nothing. In time, all is lost. Just look at the history of humankind- it all fades. And perhaps the concepts will remain, but not because we fought for them, but rather because this is how humankind works- the concepts transform and are reused while the societies rise and fall, the empires come and go. We're just one more empire, probably a short-lived one because we are unsustainable, that will have our moment in time and then become history- become a collection of artifacts for archaeologists to dig up and a collection of documents that will be picked apart by historians.
The U.S. is nothing special. It is one more civilization in a history of civilizations.
"America," the Constitution, Congress- all are mere concepts, mere figments of our imagination, which will all come to pass and one day be completely forgotten apart from the legacy of what the earth does not swallow up- some plastic garbage, perhaps a little concrete, maybe a few documents.
My soul, however- who I am- that is immortal.
To me, it is utterly irrational and disharmonious to sacrifice what is God's, what is the earth's, what is higher than me for a fleeting identity, a temporary concept.
Indeed, America only has a vestige of following God if it sacrifices what belongs to God for temporary gain. Indeed, we have only a vestige of following Christ if we do not, in fact, follow him to the cross, asking God "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." Personally, I think the lukewarm vestige is more distasteful than a clear opposition to God. As Christ preached, be hot or cold, but do not be lukewarm.
As I see it, I am either for peace and life or I am not. I either overcome my fear and am willing to sacrifice myself for the only things that are ultimately real, or I am not. I work for the Kindgom of God- it is among us. We have never truly given it a chance. The history of humankind is a history of increasing war. War begets war. How could it be otherwise? I say, not in my name.
