“The violence of combat assaults psyches, confuses ethics, and tests souls…These compromises and violations are not generally discussed and their impact on a warrior’s mental health and soul is minimized, or even ignored entirely, not only by current military training but by society at large.”
—Karl Marlantes, United States Marine Corps, What It Is Like To Go To War
When we talk about life and death, it’s always a spiritual conversation.
When we train human beings to take a life—to kill—we violate sacred territory. When we train our soldiers how to face the reality of their own death, we are in the province of the Holy. While the majority of our veterans have not been in active combat, a subset has faced these life and death situations. As we work to reintegrate veterans who have come back to us terribly changed, we’re tasked—personally and as a society—with reflecting on what these lives mean to us.
What do these lives mean to us?
There are Unitarian Universalists who oppose U.S. military actions, and there are those who believe it’s a necessity. Many of us struggle with questions about our roles as citizens of a country that sends young adults into combat, thinking this will somehow create a permanent solution. But there should be no argument about how to treat our veterans once they have returned to us. When veterans return traumatized or feeling damaged, we have a responsibility to heal veterans spiritually, physically, and mentally.
As a people, as a faith, we must acknowledge that our society, our democracy, is a part of creating veterans who are in pain. If we believe in the interconnectedness of all beings, then we must acknowledge—as citizens of this democratic nation—that we’re all complicit in its wars and conflicts. We’re complicit in the trauma that some of our military personnel endure. Our society has also sanctioned the poverty, violence, and lack of support services for families and children that lead so many of our young people to what we call the “economic draft.”
My religion tells me that even if I question your decision to join the military and create combat zones, I am responsible to help you with your spiritual healing when you return.
Unitarian Universalism calls me to create spaces in my daily life, in the lives of the veterans I serve, and in our faith communities, for healing and conversation. I must be able to respectfully discuss issues of war and peace with those I meet if I’m to live into and model the free search for truth and meaning which is also part of our religious heritage.
Prayer
Mysterious Source of All Being, Spirit of Life and Spirit of Love, we honor the greater power of love and justice to transform our world. We bear witness to a hope that resists numbness. May we be filled with a passion to work in this world creating pathways to freedom and wholeness for all people. Amen.