It was June, when nature and culture calls birds from their
nests; when the adolescents of many species, including our own, graduate from
life under the wings of their parents and leap into the wider world. And few of
these youngsters faced their graduation with as much attention upon them as
Steven Kiernan. Steven is the Petaluma 17-year old who graduated from Petaluma
High shortly after finishing boot camp as a United States Marine.
Steven’s first test as a Marine grew out of the challenge he
had set for himself: to complete his Marine training, then attend his High
School graduation ceremony wearing his Marine dress blues. When his wishes collided
with school policy, he chose not to be moved by those who wanted him to turn
the ceremony into a media circus or moral battleground. I am proud of this fellow
Petaluman for his maturity in putting the interests
of others, especially his fellow seniors, above his own. That’s the mark of a
true hero.
If this young man is sent to war, he will face challenges beyond
what most people will face in a lifetime. Traveling this path shapes the
soldier’s character for the rest of his or her life, whatever path they
eventually follow. Despite all the horrors of battle, we remain fascinated by
war and warriors. Indeed, the mythology of the warrior-hero has been central to
most human cultures since the beginning of recorded history. It stirs our
deepest emotions.
But, ultimately, Steven’s duty as a soldier/warrior in the
US Marines will be determined by a chain of command that runs up to the
Commander in Chief. And that’s where heroism turns to tragedy. Our President
and his lieutenants misled our country into a costly and unnecessary war that
has ended the lives of over seventeen hundred Americans, along with tens of
thousands of Iraqis, with no end in sight.
Maybe it’s not a Private’s prerogative to question the Commander
in Chief’s orders, but that *is* the patriotic duty of *every* American
citizen. We’re still a democracy, not a dictatorship. If our collective
questioning before the war could have cut through the lies about Saddam’s alleged
WMD and 911 connections, *would* we have consented to send our young people to battle?
Would we let them kill and die for what, in its most generous interpretation,
is control of oil reserves as a hedge against China’s growing economic power? Or
might we have chosen to tax gas guzzling instead.
While I understand why someone would choose to become a
Marine, this path is not the only path for a young warrior. Resistance to an
immoral authority is an equally honorable option. One can join the company of non-violent
fighters for freedom and justice: Gandhi, King, Mandela, Daniel Ellsberg, Mother
Jones, Lech Walesa, Fannie
Lou Hamer, and Chico Mendez, to name a few. In
standing up to powerful forces of greed, hatred, or myopia, these people were
every bit as heroic – and patriotic – as any soldier who stormed an enemy
bunker, or braved a hail of bullets to rescue a buddy.
Meanwhile, the technology of war marches on. This May, the National
Review concluded “weaponization of space is probably
inevitable”. More nations are seeking and acquiring the means to build nuclear
weapons. If we don’t stop this drift, if we don’t intensively cultivate
alternatives to killing as a means of conflict resolution, then sooner or later
today’s graduates, or their sons or granddaughters, will be among the multi-billion
casualties of the final world war.
One thing you can do, right here in Petaluma, is resist the
militarization of our campuses. The “No Child Left Behind” law has a
little-known provision that requires high schools to provide student information
to military recruiters (giving new meaning to the law’s title!) See leavemychildalone.org to find out how you can
take an important step against aggressive military recruiting by “opting out”
of this system.
It may take a bold leap, but we can fly in a new direction.
Pullquote: These people were every bit as
heroic – and patriotic – as any soldier who stormed an enemy bunker