The War of our Subconscious

It seems like it is uniquely American to categorize any type of problem that needs surmounting as a “War.” We are a very War minded people. We are conducting a War on Drugs, a War on Poverty, a War on Aids, a War on Crime and a War on Terror--some with more enthusiasm than others. And let us not forget our current War in Iraq, though our President says the war is over. Besides, we've taken to calling wars "conflicts" these days, to blunt the blade that is real war. How did we become a people of such a war-mind?

Maybe it began with our country. The foundation of our American Revolution. But war has continued throughout so much of our history: The War of 1812; The Mexican-American War; The Civil War; The Spanish-American War; World War I; World War II; The Korean War; The Vietnam War; Desert Storm; Enduring Freedom; Iraqi Freedom. A full 16 percent of our history--37 years--have been spent in war. The longest we have been without is 33 years. Which war was your war?

Every American who has lived an average lifespan has lived through a war, though many Americans did not live through them at all. Because of our history, it is difficult to think of a future without war. My grandparents grew up with WWII, my parents with Vietnam and I with the Persian Gulf--what did that do to shape our conscious mind?

It has always been our intention to save lives with war, not simply end them. It is our desire to reach a peaceful resolution to these problems...and for that, we may need a certain level of understanding of what peace really is to begin with. Are we bound by the framework of a war-conscious culture, and a war-conscious mind?

Lately, it seems that war has left our conscious minds. We have had enough, seen enough, and felt enough of war; it is out of site, out of mind. Even in the land of the freedom of the press, our press have come to censor themselves. All of us have seen enough. The images overseas are too much, and so we censor them for ourselves--send them to our subconscious. While this war rages on in Iraq, while American flags wave high at home, so too do they cast long shadows as the sun goes down. The dead cast shadows on us all.