This week marks the 10th Anniversary of the start of the war with Iraq. It is a time to remember the ruse of WMD. It is a time to remember the many lives lost of service men and women as well as civilians. Can we ever forget the toppling of Saddam Hussein?
So, 10 years later, are we safer? Do you feel safer? We get robo calls at our house several times a week from security companies offering to set us up with a security system. Do I feel safer than I did 10 years ago? There was an article in the paper today about a former student at the University of Central Florida who was heavily armed and planning an attack on the campus. Do we feel safer? I love to visit Mexico. I read today that the 253,000 guns are smuggled each year from the US into Mexico. Will I feel safer on my next trip to Mexico? And what am I really afraid of? In the short term as well as long term, what I am really afraid of is global climate change and environmental destruction. So, this war with Iraq, did it make me safer? Are we less afraid?
I must say that I am not less afraid. In fact, I may be more afraid than I was 10 years ago. And much of that fear has nothing to do with foreign terrorist groups, but with policies, trends, laws, and enforcement, involving our domestic society. The resources used for the Iraq war could have gone a long way toward making me feel safer by being applied to certain domestic issues.
I am listening to the novel, The Falls, by Joyce Carol Oates. As usual for her, it is very dark. At one point in the story, it’s the mid ’70’s and a burly, gruff young man who is coming to the end of his high school career decides that he wants to take home economics. He then takes up cooking at this uncle’s restaurant. He’s very good at it. But at 6’2” tall and 220 pounds, his family wants him to be a prize fighter; make more money, bring more notoriety to the family. Reluctantly, he goes to his first Golden Gloves tournament. And though he is big and strong, he is pummeled. His coach tries to egg him on. The young man replies, “I don’t want to hit some guy, I want to feed him.” [Disk 14, section 12] The family lets him give up boxing and go back to cooking in the diner. He has won.
I don’t know about you, but I think that feeding someone is a lot more likely to make the world a safer place than hitting someone. You are not as likely to bite the hand that feeds you. I find the image of feeding a good one for us as Christians. There are images of food and meals throughout scripture and certainly woven through the gospels. Jesus was continuously eating with people and feeding them. To eat together not only meets a bodily need but it creates community. Food truly does sustain life. Think of what we could have accomplished if we had used all of the money for the war with Iraq on food. Then, we might actually be able to say that we feel safer.
Prayer – We are grateful, God, for the many ways that we are fed. May we be fed by your word, and by the teachings of Jesus. May we ingest and digest his way of peace. Help us to create security in the world through service, empowerment, and respect. Violence only begets violence. When will we ever learn? Help us to learn and grow in the ways of peace. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 