April 28, 2007
The courage in resisting war
By Debi Smith
For the Tidings
Too quickly, as most parents lament, a baby grows into adulthood. When Shoshana Alexander's son turned 18 last year, in addition to feeling proud that he had become such a fine young man, she knew he now faced the "American rite of passage" ?- filling out a voter registration card, and registering with the Selective Service. Having a son about to take this step was one of the things that inspired Shoshana to write the book, Standing Tall: Conscientious Objectors, Exiles, Resisters and Other War Heroes.
DT: Please tell us more about your decision to write this book?
Shoshana: After the November 2004 election, there were two things I knew I wanted to do something about--figure out how conservatives and liberals could start talking to each other; and help young people clarify their feelings about the military, war, and killing.
Articles appearing in the media were suggesting that a military draft was expected to start in the spring of 2005. During his first term, Cheney had actually warned Americans to "expect war for the next generation." My son was 16 at the time, so of course a draft was very frightening to consider. You look at the child you have known since he was a baby, and it seems impossible--and horribly insane--to think of him going off to war. Whether there was a draft or not, I knew the law required him to register. I wanted him to think about what that meant and to know that it's possible to say no to war and yes to more creative solutions for solving the world's problems.
DT: Could you give a brief description of the book?
Shoshana: First, I want to be clear that this book is not intended to deprecate those who choose to be soldiers, but to honor those who for reasons of conscience, choose not to.
When the book is finished there will be 15 to 20 first-person stories based on interviews conducted with men and women from World War II through the current Iraq war. Stories told by people who have examined their choices about war, the military, what it means to take a human life, and who have taken "the road less traveled." Some of them were already in the military before realizing they could not comply or continue, some talk about their decision to register as conscientious objectors, some tell of actively resisting registering when there was a draft, and some tell of completing their time in the military and spending the rest of their lives working for peace.
It takes tremendous courage to say no to the momentum of war, and to face the consequences, and we need to keep alive the stories of those who have taken such a stand. I want my son, and all those who make up his world, to see these models of possibility, to know that there are other choices, and how to make them.
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DT: May we share an excerpt from one of the stories in the book?
Shoshana: This one is pretty intense, but it puts you right there in the midst of war, and in the middle of one soldier's transformation. It's an excerpt from Brian Willson's experience in Vietnam:
"I looked down at a woman clutching onto three children. I could see that the children were dead, but her eyes were open, and I had this notion that she might be alive. When I bent down to look more closely, I realized that napalm had burned her skin and melted off her eyelids. For an instant, it seems I caught the reflection of myself in her eyes . . . and the world turned upside down. Here I was in her village--10,000 miles away from my farming community. She wasn't in my village. The moment I looked into the eyes of that woman, my entire perception of the world changed...I knew in a deep deep way that she was my sister"¦I had a glimpse of knowing we're all connected."
DT: Are you concerned about making you and your son's military stance public?
Shoshana: Yes. But how can I let that stop me from doing what I can? Would it serve my son better to hide out, to speak only when and where it is safe? I would not put him in harm's way, but neither do I want to be complicit with putting in harm's way hundreds of thousands of people who make up his world.
John F. Kennedy said, "War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today." Hopefully this book will enable young people--and their parents, teachers, school counselors, and communities--to see that there are choices, and inspire the courage to take them.
http://www.dailytidings.com/2007/0428/stories/0427_bp_shoshana.php
