Don Friesen
On Thursday our country will mark Remembrance Day, a day set aside to commemorate the armistice that ended World War I at 11:00 a.m. on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in 1918. On that date the major hostilities of World War I were ended with the German signing of the Armistice. The day was specifically dedicated by King George V, on this very day – November 7 – 91 years ago, on 1919. It was dedicated to the observance of members of the armed forces who were killed during the war.
Although the experiences of the first world war traumatized many in all of the countries participating, twenty years later we were back at it again. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II, a war that took an extremely heavy toll, with extensive loss of human life and severe economic devastation. Fifty countries were involved, and it is estimated that a total of 40 million civilians and 20 million soldiers were killed. And for the first time in history, the atomic bomb was used.
The two world wars of the twentieth century stand out, for my generation at least, as watershed wars, though they are only two wars, sandwiched between countless wars waged before, and since. The extreme devastation of the second world war led to isolated and optimistic cries of "No more War," and spurred the creation of the United Nations. While the United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent future conflicts, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next forty-six years. The success rate of using war to settle disputes has a dismal record. In 92% of cases, negotiations, rather than decisive military victories, bring wars to an end. Nevertheless, we continue to build up armies, and develop more powerful weapons.
A Selective Memory?
On Thursday our country will remember war, and it is good to remember, but memory is a tricky thing. William Zinsser (1922-), a writer and literary critic who published a book entitled, The Art and Craft of Memoir (Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir, 1998) says that to tell your story is essentially an act of imagination and invention. We make decisions about how the events of our lives fit together. We assign various levels of meaning to the various moments of our lives. We shape our stories. Annie Dillard, one of the book's contributors, contemplates the strangeness of spending "more time writing about (an event) than you did living it." (page 157)
The late Henri Nouwen said that how we respond to stressful situations depends a lot upon our memories. "One day it will be realized that (we) are distinguishable from one another as much by the forms (our) memories take as by (our) characters." (Nouwen, The Living Reminder, quoting Andre Malraux) Our response to life is not simply dependent on the events of our lives, but also, and perhaps even more so, on the way we remember those events. Our emotional response to situations has a lot to do with how we have integrated past events into our life stories.
There is a place for a healthy skepticism about memory. For one thing, North Americans, by and large, have a shallow memory. I remember the story Bill J told when he and Marlene returned from Egypt. He asked a woman to identify experiences of the minority Christian community in the Middle East that were particularly difficult. She thought it over, and replied, "The years of Diocletian's rule were perhaps the most difficult for the Church. Diocletian! (244-311) A fourth-century Roman emperor! Now that is a long and full-bodied memory!
A second reason for a healthy skepticism about memory, particularly "official" memory, is that it is very selective. Mennonites were captive to unsympathetic historians for almost five centuries. We know what it is to maintain and nurture a minority memory.
A Mennonite minority memory – an M & M memory, if you like – keeps in mind those who rendered alternative service in times of war, those who planted forests in Canada, those who served our national healthcare, who served in flood control, medical science, and reform of the mental health system. No Highway of Heroes for them! No Royal Canadian Legion for them – which, in light of recent events, may be just as well.
Captivated by a Sacred Memory
We may not celebrate alternative service, but we have learned to listen to alternative thinkers, and we do not assume that the conventional course of action is the correct one. We are, after all, schooled in the thought patterns of the Old Testament prophets, who always rounded out the official line by calling to mind a longer and sacred memory.
Jesus caused quite a stir in his day, and his public ministry was impressive, but its impact had a lot to do with its evocative power. It evoked sacred memory. The Scriptures place great importance upon memory and upon those things that evoke memory. When God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, God began by introducing Himself: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery...." (Exodus 20:2) The liberation from slavery was indelibly imprinted upon the Hebrew psyche, and one had only to touch the slavery button or the salvation button to or the Red Sea button to evoke a powerful response.
When the people of Israel became discouraged, and complained – something they did often – God called upon them to remember:
The memory of God as One determined to liberate them remained with the people of God, and they made a point of gathering every year to celebrate and to keep alive that memory. It was a long and full-bodied memory, that included calls to remember "...the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow" (Deuteronomy 14:29), and to think of their welfare.
I remember ...
And so on Thursday, as our country calls us to remember people of war, let us invoke the fuller memory our community of faith has bequeathed us, and blue also remember war refugees. We know these stories firsthand. We just heard one on Wednesday, when laying Alexandra N to rest. We recalled the tumultuous years she lived through as a young girl. Jose and Irma know what it's like to come out of the war in El Salvador. Didier and Madeleine and others have told us the stories of war in the Congo.
According to a report by the United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees, released a year ago (June 16, 2009), the number of people in the world forced to leave their homes and countries as a result of conflicts reached 42 million by the end of 2008. To remember is to call to mind that the refugees of war need a haven of peace.
When on Thursday our country calls us to remembrance, let us also remember children harmed by war. War is a daily reality for millions of children around the world. Vulnerable to the ravages of war and often separated from their families, children are orphaned or handicapped for life. Many remain traumatized by the brutal deaths and unspeakable violence they have witnessed. Many of them die of hunger, malnutrition, or lack of medical care.
Between 8000 and 10,000 children are killed or disabled every year as a result of landmines. Over 250,000 continue to be exploited as child soldiers. To better control the local population, children are ordered to terrorize, torture or massacre their own families in the villages where they were raised. These stories we have also heard. Remember the experiences recounted by McAnthony K about child soldiers in Liberia.
When our country calls us to remembrance, let us also remember the pain of women and girls who are raped and abused during war
When on Thursday our country calls us to remembrance, let us also remember people emotionally traumatized by war, including soldiers. Our own government, which hails soldiers as heroes, has treated soldiers traumatized by war very shabbily. In the case of trauma, those affected would prefer to excise their horrid memories, for these memories trigger disrupted sleep patterns; eating disorders; aggressiveness; intense fear; lack of concentration; distressful, repetitive dreams, sometimes illusions and hallucinations, and suicide.
When on Thursday our country calls us to remembrance, let us also remember families separated by war. This too is part of our own history, the chaos following the end of the second world war separating many of our families for long periods of time. A central search agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross exists to provide various missing persons search services around the world, to help people re-establish contact with their family members. For some reason, this invaluable service also doesn't qualify for the Highway of Heroes.
When on Thursday our country calls us to remembrance, let us also remember people who are hungry because of war. All wars cause food shortages and hunger, in addition to destroying hope. Despite the existence of specific requirements under international humanitarian law designed to protect all non-combatants from the effects of war, famine often results from armed conflicts, either deliberately caused by the belligerents, in violation of their obligations, or indirectly caused as a result of the destruction wrought by war. Sometimes restrictions are placed on food production through travel restrictions or the indiscriminate use of mines that prevent farmers from working the land. Irrigation infrastructure and harvests are often destroyed or pillaged. Food distribution systems are often paralysed, and aid shipments prevented from reaching civilian populations.
Lest we Forget the Bible
The Old Testament prophet, Zechariah, lived in a violent and unjust world much like our own. The compelling nature of our biblical vision, however, is not simply to decry war and injustice; Zechariah and other held up a vision of a better world in which people are able to enjoy "shalom," which, in biblical understanding, is much more than an absence of conflict. It is a vision of life where everyone can come and go freely without fear of suffering aggression or violence. It is a vision of life where everyone is treated with respect, kindness and dignity. It is a vision of a society in which everyone has access to the resources needed for survival (Zechariah 8:12), and a society whose oldest members as well as its youngest enjoy the calm and stability needed for laughter and joy. (8:4-5) "For there shall be a sowing of peace," says Zechariah; "the vine shall yield its fruit, the ground shall give its produce, and the skies shall give their dew; and I (God) will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things." (8:12)
This is not a romantic or magical vision. Zechariah, like Micah and Jesus, invites people to action. "These are the things that ye shall do," says Zechariah. As MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) reminds us, "To remember is to work for peace!" (MCC button) Schooled in biblical memory – in the memory of all that is true and honourable, just and pure, pleasing and commendable, we cannot do otherwise. AMEN
Remember what God has done for you.
To remember is to know who you are, and to what you are called. Remember that God has called you "...to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God". (Micah 6:8)
Remember that God heard your cries.
Remember that God answered your complaints.
Remember that God found you a liberator.
Remember that God freed you from Pharaoh's yoke.
Remember that God parted the waters.
Remember that God gave you the dream of a land flowing with milk and honey, and led you into that land!
I have borrowed liberally from the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) 2010 Peace packet prepared by MCC staff in Québec: Jean-Calvin Kitata, peace and justice coordinator, and Claude and Muriel Queval, directors. "Je me souviens" ("I remember") is a short but widely used phrase that has appeared on Province of Québec licence plates since 1978. These words have been the motto inscribed on the front of public monuments and buildings in La Belle Province for decades. Staff at MCC Québec were inspired to use "I remember" for this packet, for the simple reason that the phrase conveys openness; it cannot be associated with any particular remembrance and, more importantly, it carries no value judgments.
Quotations of Scripture are from the New Revised Standard Version, unless otherwise noted.