The Gods of War

I read a sci/fi piece this morning which was written by a sweet spirited young woman who lives in France with her husband and contributes to the Ditalinipress blog. In it she describes perfectly the transformation of a boy from citizen to soldier. It moved me. Actually, it broke my heart. Eva has allowed me to quote her paragraph in my own blog.

"After two years of training in weaponry, stamina, and strategy, he was sent to the Empire's mutable Eastern borders and in time, he found that he liked the life of a soldier. He felt elemental and strong. He knew war had always been and always would be and he formed an idea that he and the other soldiers were conduits for the gods, and he was to allow the inevitable, warring passions of Earth to work through him for the greatest outcome of all. Whenever he felt like he couldn't take another step, or felt dizzy with hunger, he'd say: Stay empty, empty, its an honor to host this transfiguring force."

Most of my children, including my daughters, have served in the military at one time or another. Thankfully, none saw combat, but they were trained by the "Gods of War", better known as our governments, to become soldiers. Trained, as Eva explains, to be "conduits for the Gods........to allow the inevitable warring passions of Earth to work through (them) for the greatest outcome of all."

Is it just me, or does anyone else see the sadness, the wrongness of all this? Past, present or futuristic sci/fi, nothing seems to change. The Gods of War remain. However, we have the right, to turn our backs on them, to refuse to worship and offer up our children on their alters of sacrifice. May the better angels within us deny them their deity and keep our children filled with the strength of wisdom and peace.