"War...Oh, War is not the answer"- Marvin Gaye (What's Goin' On?)

My 20th Century British lit professor mentioned yesterday in the course introduction a quote about writers of novels in wartime. I can't remember it perfectly, but to paraphrase: During wartime, someone who writes novels about anything less than war is intellectually dead. I am by no means a novelist, but I might as well pay tribute to the idea of each war being the most intensely personal event of its time, and to the lives lost by Americans and Iraqis alike. The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, which my dad gave me for Christmas and I have been reading this week, is also fueling my interest in the War in Iraq and particularly for bringing the War to a halt. Not a screeching halt, but a progressive pull-out of American troops and build-up of Iraqi forces.

C.S. Lewis, through this satire written from the point of view of a demon to his minor demon newpew, criticizes those who call themselves pacifists and who don't really have the true convictions against war. Through his witty and carefully-worded letters, I have become more confident with my beliefs and have strengthened my ideas about God and doing what's not evil and perhaps good. Being a pacifist or a writer or a good friend or someone who's religious is not about focusing on possessing those beliefs or being that kind of individual. It's the result of truly acting as oneself and focusing on others and God and everything else that is meaningful and timeless instead of yourself. I know realize that selfish behavior and materialism and other societal evils that have become so common in America and the rest of the world are the tools Screwtape (the demon in C.S. Lewis' book) is using to coaxe humans toward the Devil's lifestyle. It's full of Nothing, it is void of warmth and intimacy. "So precise and towering," to quote Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. No thanks, I'd rather be considered too religious and puritanical by friends and strangers of society. At least I have contact with what is full of meaning and truth and closeness and happiness. That's company enough for me, plus I'd like to think most of my friends and family agree with me and are part of that company.

I am not going to call myself a pacifist beacause I know war is inevitable. But, I don't believe war is the answer. Just like Marvin Gaye said. I would love to eradicate the roots of war from the social and political soil of Earth forever, but I know this has not yet happened. So maybe I am working toward making the world one full of pacifists, one not devoid of conflict and argument, but one where diplomacy will in fact prove successful in resolving conflicting interests between nations. Simply releasing my passion for ending the war through words on a computer screen or notebook page is clearly not hard work, but it's my first step.