you can't handle the truth

War On The Periphery

Around the battlements go by
Soldier men against the sky,
Violent lovers, husbands, sons,
Guarding my peaceful life with guns.

My pleasures, how discreet they are!
A little booze, a little car,
Two little children and a wife
Living a small suburban life.

My little children eat my heart;
At seven o'clock we kiss and part
At seven o'clock we meet again;
They eat my heart and grow to men.

I watch their tenderness with fear
While on the battlements I hear
The violent, obedient ones
Guarding my family with guns.

you guys have probably seen "a few good men." we've all heard that famous line a thousand times, "you want the truth? you can't handle the truth!" shouted by military commander, jack nicholson at the ever so dreamy mr. cruise. jackie boy goes on to say "deep down inside you need us on that wall, you want us on that wall, because without us on that wall, you have nothing!" he says this referring to the wall at guantanamo bay to keep an eye on cuba. the whole gist is that his character has done something terribly wrong, and he tries to justify it, saying that without him and what he does, there would be no freedom for any of us. now before you think i'm going to tear the army a new one (although in reality, 99.9% of the army would tear me two new ones before i could tear them half of one...what does that even mean?), i am not going to have my typical anti-war angry young hippie speak. that is good, but i've done it before, and i'm sure your all sick of it. in fact, the reason i'm talking about war and this movie is because i'm actually beginning to wonder if his statement is true. despite all my depely held beliefs about war and violence, i'm wondering whether i am a hypocrite. i am against war, yet it is because of the military that i possess many of the freedoms i so deeply cherish. if i'm being honest, this is true. i can't really deny it. take away the army and what do we have?

we read this poem in our english class this week. i'm wondering what pacifists do with the thoughts that come from this poem. how do i feel about the fact that the reason i have the freedoms i do because there is a military in place to protect our country? i'm someone who will often talk about how i feel that war and violence is wrong in all circumstances. if that's the case, would i accept the option of taking away our military/police force/grandma doing the neighborhood watch with a can of bear mase? how would i protect my family? it's easy for me to sit here and think i know everything, but for some reason, i can't help but shake this feeling that my stance is missing something important. i'm not stepping away from pacifism, but i am beginning to question whether i truly am a pacifist, or whether i just don't like war. if i am against war, should i not be against the military? i know we can support our troops but not the war. i know we can because i do. but if i truly believe war is wrong, then shouldn't the military not be in place either?

obviously this is as big hypothetical, as this will most likely never be the case. but i'm wondering what you guys think about this. i'm looking at people like tim mcmillan, who works for the rcmp, and rachel elford, whose husband is in the american military. what do you guys think? what does everyone else think? i don't ever see myself in support of war, but i'm struggling to find something above both options that is in line with God's kingdom. let me know what you think...