Staying Alive

Last week I talked with a veteran, a World War II sailor on a seaplane tender in the mid-Atlantic. He told me of the many German submarines the task force sank. His ship was full of fuel and would have exploded with the impact of one torpedo. He told me there were three rules in the military: stay alive, stay alive and stay alive. But then he told me of people who could not face combat and committed suicide. At least some of them wanted control over their own death, even though it was not clear that they would die. The possibility was enough. I have never been at the point where life was not worth living and the prospects ahead not worth facing. In that sense I have been blessed.

(Flanders Field)

Military or Peace Bases

I was reading recently about opposition to expanding our military bases in Italy. I thought about this and realized that we have military bases all over the world. Although some people are comforted by them, others find them threatening and fear our power. I began to wonder what would happen if we had peace bases instead of or in addition to military bases. They could be models of cooperation and caring for each other. While our country has a strong bellicose history, we also have experience helping other people. Our peace bases could be places where we listened to and learned to understand others. We might also learn something about ourselves and stress compromise rather than imposing our will on others. "People say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."