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War always hurts the poor. War is not the great democratizer. It is the great demolisher.
The Bible records and describes it all. There is no great violence in which economic forces do not wield their generational power to fortify their own palaces first.
Yes, there are countries that claim that all their people share and experience the same war-carrying burden. But in the USA, our wise elders remember that long ago, in the Vietnam War, our draft was dodge-able, by Republicans and Democrats alike. Who told me that? It was my father, Leon Daniel, who was a journalist, an international war correspondent, and a marine who received a Purple Heart.
Who else told me that war hurts the poor? I heard it from Israelis and Palestinians in 2017 when last I visited that land, to study and to learn. Today I hear it from faithful UCC veterans in the Midwest, who want a better and more imaginative scholarship program for their own grandchildren - one that will not leave the deep scars that their middle-aged elders carry on their heavy war-torn shoulders and psyches.
Individuals hurt and cry out in pain. Crowds hurt and cry out in pain. Some voices are heard louder than others. From Biblical times to now, the powerful party-planners use shinier wrapping paper, and better technology. Yet somehow, the subversive words of Jesus slipped through the centuries, from the agony of the cross to the mystery of a heavenly banquet where friends and enemies will have an equal seat at the table.
War always hurts the people who have the least to lose, but who among us has anything we can afford to lose when it comes to human life?
So, consider this: War always hurts someone else more than it hurts you.
If you are still alive, you know this to be true.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace.
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