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Near the end of his sprawling, at times lyrical and at times infuriating epic novel, Iron Gustav: A Berlin Family Chronicle, Hans Fallada incorporates into his narrative the true story of a Berlin horse-and-buggy cab driver who in 1928 drove his horse-drawn carriage from Berlin to Paris and back.
Whatever anyone may think about the necessity of entering into armed conflict, war is never the first preferred option for rational leaders in resolving international disputes.
There is nothing glamorous about war. War is brutal and deadly. There are no victories in war. Everyone loses whenever we resort to violence.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, in 2008, 63 armed conflicts around the globe resulted in 56,000 casualties. In 2014 six years later 180,000 people died worldwide as a result of 42 conflicts.
At the end of its orignal airing in 2013 Guardian writer Viv Groskop wrote of the TV minis-series “Generation War” that “no television programme has ever caused as much debate in German society.”
Nine years before I was born, the horrifying conflagration we have come to call The Second World War, came to an end.
It is almost inconceivable that people who have perpetrated the acts of violence that have plagued the history of the Christian church might think they could find the slightest sanction in the New Testament for their actions.
One of the privileges of serving in a parish, is the opportunity to hear extraordinary stories. Often these stories come from older members of the community.
I am one of an enormously historically privileged and geographically blessed generation who has never known my country to be embroiled in a major all-encompassing global military conflict.
In A Spacious Place 
“Endless War”
November 25, 2015 in Current Comment | Tags: Afghanistan, Chris Hedges, Iraq, Taliban, US, Violence, War | 1 comment
Chris Hedges is a Harvard seminary graduate, activist and US journalist who was fired from the New York Times for his criticism of the Iraq War. He now works as an independent writer and publishes a weekly column at “truthdig”: http://www.truthdig.com/
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