[lit-ideas] FW: Santa Claus Visits a Marine

  • From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "lit-ideas" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2005 13:03:30 -0500

I really should have addressed this to Eric and Marlena.  The point is that 
what we think of as good is really just collective violence, sometimes an 
excuse for collective violence.  


The poem below was sent to me by a part-time staff members who does research 
for me over the Internet (I?ve never met her in person). I hired her (based on 
a telephone conversation) out of one-hundred applicants because of her kind, 
enthusiastic personality and efficient demeanor.
She?s a devout Christian. The poem was accompanied by the following note: 

?This poem was written by a Marine. The following is his request. I think it is 
reasonable....PLEASE.  Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as 
many people as you can?  Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due 
to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these 
festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make 
people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves 
for us. Please, do your small part to plant this small seed.?

The Marine in his poem depicts a visit by Santa Claus. Through the eyes of St. 
Claus, the author of the poem (the Marine) tells us how he sees himself.

I spoke to another staff member who works in-house, another good person who is 
in touch with typical Americans. He tells me that the thoughts of the Marine 
and those of the lady who sent me the poem are typical of how most (if not all) 
of the Americans he knows think. 

Please study this document carefully. It constitutes empirical data telling us 
a great deal about the meaning of war.

The soldier thinks of himself as a good, kind person who has acted on behalf of 
the defense of America?s sacred values.

The young lady embraces the idea of the ?sacred soldier.? She considers him a 
Hero who has sacrificed himself for the American people. The soldier conceives 
of himself as someone who has fought for God and country?for the freedom and 
security of America.

These statements may seem like clichés, but they reflect the foundational 
ideology of the United States. We may hypothesize that the re-election of 
President Bush (in spite of the many blunders of his first term) was based on 
the fact that millions of people possess ideas that are not unlike those of 
this Marine and young lady.

Are these the people that you want to accuse of being evil? The capacity for a 
nation to go to war DEPENDS ON THE BELIEFS OF PEOPLE LIKE THESE. Wars are 
fought in the name of sacred values--values that constitute the basis for a 
national identity. Without these shared values, it would be difficult to 
maintain a national identity.

Belief in the goodness of a nation?s sacred values (and the desire to defend 
them) generates warfare and its atrocities. The sense of goodness and 
collective violence CANNOT BE SEPARATED. When Iraq was in the process of being 
attacked and bombed, the song ?God Bless America, Land that I love? echoed on 
radio stations throughout the country.

Solving the problem of war thus requires extensive reflection. If it were 
simply a question of doing away with evil, war would constitute no problem. 
People would simply put the evil-doers?those who generate slaughter?into jail. 
However, collective violence usually is undertaken in the name of goodness; for 
the sake of preserving and defending a society?s sacred values. This being the 
case, resolving the problem of war requires insight, complex thought, and 
subtle tactics. 

This is the paradox: the manner in which goodness and massive destruction are 
bound together. If it were simply a question of ranting against evil, this 
listserv would not be necessary. Societal forms of violence like war arise out 
of the belief in goodness; are carried out in the name of a society?s sacred 
values.

Merry Christmas to All and thanks very much for sticking with this arduous task 
of working to ?awaken from the nightmare of history.?

Richard Koenigsberg
______________________________________________________________________
IT WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

HE LIVED ALL ALONE, IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.  I HAD 
COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE, AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME 
DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE, NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN 
A TREE.  NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND, ON THE WALL HUNG 
PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS. 

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS, A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY 
MIND.  FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY, I FOUND THE HOME 
OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.  THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, 
ALONE, CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME. 

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER, NOT HOW I PICTURED A UNITED 
STATES SOLDIER.
WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?  CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR 
A BED? 

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT, OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE 
SOLDIERS WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.  SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD 
PLAY, AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR, BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE 
THE ONE LYING HERE.  I COULDN'T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE, ON A COLD 
CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.  THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY 
EYE, I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY. 

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE, "SANTA DON'T CRY, THIS LIFE IS 
MY CHOICE; I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE, MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY 
COUNTRY, MY CORPS."  THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP, I COULDN'T 
CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD 
NIGHT'S CHILL.  I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT, THIS GUARDIAN 
OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.  THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT 
AND PURE, WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA, IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."  ONE 
LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.  "MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO 
ALL A GOOD NIGHT."  

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