This week will mark the passing of 11/11: the day we commemorate in our nation as Veterans Day. As you mayalready know, this day only came to be known as Veterans Day following the end of World War II. Prior to that war, it was known as Armistice Day, commemorating the end of the World War I. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent throughout Europe and the Middle East bringing to end what had been one of the most destructive conflicts known to humanity. Today this date is still observed throughout the world; Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations, Armistice Day for others, and even Independence Day for some.
On November 11, 1918, the warring nations of the world laid down their arms and exhaled their first relieved sighs of peace in over four years. Finally freed from conflict, the world was able to take stock of all that had transpired during this time: the destruction of Western Europe, Turkey, the Balkans, Palestine, modern-day Poland and Iraq, Russia, and many other territories and lands. The pall of war crimes hung like a cloud over the landscape of peace: ethnic cleansing and genocide, mass deployment of chemical weapons, and unrestricted submarine warfare. And all of this seemed to diminish behind the crimson stain of an estimated 20 million or more dead. (Sadly, we can never know the exact cost in human life – war often steals away life under the tragic circumstances of anonymity.)
So when did 9/11 become more powerful than 11/11?
This is more a question of rhetoric than of research, but it tugs at my thoughts this week as I reflect on the upcoming Veterans Day holiday – an observance to remember all of those who have fought for our nation, and I hope, an opportunity to remember the heartbreaking cost of our seemingly human predisposition to violence and war. It stands in contrast to the symbolism of 9/11, a date which has become our new Pearl Harbor or Alamo: a rallying cry for war.
As Christians, we have much to think about as we approach the season of Advent and the celebration of the one whom we call “Prince of Peace.” Will we remember the tragedy of conflict and reflect soberly on 11/11 before engaging in warfare, or will we embrace the rally cry of 9/11 and rush toward war without pausing to regard the cost? Sometimes the Gospel forces us to confront the most difficult of choices.
Praying for peace in a war-torn world,
Clint
