War & God

1934 – Hey, I am born in Brooklyn. So far as I know, there isn’t much going on in the world, i.e., no serious wars going on.  I mean that thing between 1914 and 1918 finally ceased, and it was replaced by great uncertainty, but then the 20s hit and the world started dancing and singing again.

1939 – ok, I’m now 5, not yet in school. Rudy (my dad) has begun his thing, which is to get drunk a lot and stay out for long periods. That means Daisy, the Mother, has to begin working to support us. Of course, the Germans under Hitler have begun acting out, sort of like my father, except the Germans are killing people, just cuz. Yeah, the beginnings of a second bigtime war have now begun in earnest.

1941 – OK, I’m now 7 and enrolled at PS82 in Manhattan. The Japanese drag US into the War by doing something terminally stupid—bombing Pearl Harbor. And so we got into it big time. Lots of Blackouts in Manhattan. Nothing much said in school about all the booming going on around the world. But to be fair, we weren’t getting boomed. Just everyone else. That continued until 1945 when Germans and Japanese both threw up their hands and said, “OK, we give up”.  Course, we had to drop a couple of those big nasty nuclear things on Two Japanese cities before they made that decision.

1946 – ok it’s now post World War II, and, Hey, I’m now 12. So roughly half of my kidlife so far has had killing wars going on. But now things calm down for a few years.  And then I turn 15 and North Korea, supported by China decides to invade South Korea.  And, “So What” you say. Well, after that nasty Second bigtime War. America decided it kind of liked wars, so we decided to step in and help South Korea, by sending our guys with some arms to help out.  And that went on til 1953, when I am already in college at Stanford.  And I had to register for the draft when I turned 18 in 1952. But since I am officially a college kid, I get a deferment from the draft, so I can avoid going off to get killed in some far-off place.

1954 – I’m now entering my junior year at college, and we begin to engage in Vietnam. The French had been in control throughout Vietnam, but they were never too good at the war thingie, so they just opened a nice bottle of wine and sat back, as we entered.   Then in 1955, I was entering my senior year, but my really my bigtime event is getting married in July. Yeah, but, guess what?  This War is a bit bigger than the war in Korea. So, China backed North Vietnam, and we decided to back the South.  And America becomes engaged again.  We do so love War, as does apparently almost everyone on this Planet.  I guess God decided that humans killing other Humans is just a normal thing to do, and perfectly ok with her.  But again, I am deferred from entering. First, I’m still in college, then I get married and have a kid. And then, the Biggie, I obtain a secret clearance and become involved in the development of big missiles. So, it’s almost like I’m in the military, except nobody’s shooting at me.  This shoot’m up goes on through several presidents. Dwight Eisenhower got us involved in 1954, by sending troops to train the South Vietnamese army. Then Kennedy in 1961 sent in more troops to advise, followed by Lyndon Johnson who expanded our role because he said the North had attacked one of our warships. Then Tricky Dick Nixon took over and promised to end that war, yeah right, hahahahaha.  So tricky Dick kept the war thingie going on, ensuring that we would lose more thousands of our troops.  Finally, we got the hell out, with Nixon resigning with dishonor from his post.  And, I guess if we’re honest, we have to acknowledge that this is the first War we actually lost. Well, we didn’t say that, but we just left with our tail twixt our legs. We didn't even open a nice bottle of wine like the French.

1979 – 2023 – The Middle East. Yeah that place.  For reasons I fail to properly comprehend, the Russians got themselves into a war in the Middle East, if you can count Afghanistan as “The Middle East”.  And where’s “The Middle East”? Well, I guess it’s anywhere from Pakistan westward all the way into Northern Africa. If Muslims are either in charge or at War, it’s “The Middle East”.  And then, we helped the Afghans and the Russians got their asses kicked out. But then the Middle East erupted in wars all over the place. Turns out Muslims love war even more than we do. And Israel being set up in the midst of all those armed Muslims was probably less than the World’s best idea. I guess everyone thought they would just get over it, but apparently these folks don’t get over such things. So, the bombs have kept flying ever since.

And now, I’m in my 49^th 39^th year of age, and I have difficulty looking back to a “peaceful age”. I wonder whether Neanderthals knew peace.  Apparently their replacement humans were born to kill.

And that is a truly sad commentary on life. Why can’t we all just get along? Evidently, if humans were truly invented by God, then she has a weird sense of humor. I mean, I doubt that Trevor Noah or Jon Stewart would have invented humans. And since comedians seem to be the smartest people on the planet, how come God didn’t just put them in charge> Are all these killing machines part of some other God’s Plan, one she hasn’t told us about?

Well, maybe God is waiting for all the killing doofuses to leave—that is idiot-malenfants like Putin and Trump and DeSantis, and MTG. Maybe God is waiting for our Great Grandkids to become a little bit more mature before she just turns everything over to them.  Too bad I won’t be around to see all that peace and kindness spreading around the world. It’s really overdue God. Can’t we accelerate the changeover a bit . . . PLEASE? Some Peace would be really nice.