Pacifist Resistance

Make that "men and women refuse to fight"

Why won’t you join the military, son?

‘Fraid of getting killed? No, sir, 

I said, ‘fraid if I joined I’d kill

Somebody, and that’d be wrong.

No, you got it wrong, son. You’re

Not committing murder. You’re

Defending yourself when you kill

Somebody who’s out to kill you.

Why would he want to kill me

If I clearly didn’t want to kill him?

You’d be carrying a gun, son. Rest

Assured he’d want to kill you. But 

I wouldn’t be carrying a gun. I’d 

Be no threat to him, like a medic.

Then join and be a medic; you 

Wouldn’t be killing anybody.

Can’t do that either, sir. Medics 

Ultimately help send soldiers 

Back to kill. Couldn’t do that,

Sir.  Sure sounds to me like you’re

Afraid of getting killed in combat.

Like I said earlier, I’m afraid of 

Killing in combat, or helping others

To kill in combat. Driving a truck?

Nope, that’s helping in the killing.

Clerking in the office? Nope that’s

Helping in the killing. Breaking codes

To save our men? I think you know 

What I’d say. Where’d you get such

Crazy ideas anyway? In church.

Jesus said not to return evil for evil.

Vengeance is mine, said the Lord.

You see what they did to Jesus? 

Not directly, sir, but I read about the

Crucifixion. You want them to do

That to you? No, sir, not at all.

You want them to do that to your

Brother? No, sir. To your mother?

No, sir, that wouldn’t be right. 

But I don’t think it’s necessary to 

Kill anybody. Look at the First 

World War, killed millions, didn’t

They? Yes. Didn’t have to. Huh?

Ever hear of the Christmas Truce

Of 1914? Yes, where the Germans

And the French sang Christmas 

Carols on Christmas Eve and 

Played football on No Man’s Land

On Christmas Day—no shots,

No shells for better than a whole 

Day? Yes, but the war started right

Up the next day. Didn’t have to.

What if they agreed to have a

Christmas Truce for the whole

Twelve Days of Christmas? By

Epiphany they would have realized

They could put off the war altogether

And return to their wives and families

In safety and there would have been no

Millions killed. Well, young man, 

That sounds all fine and good but

If you didn’t resume the war we’d

Have to shoot enough of you until

You did start shooting again.

You’re right, sir. Pacifists accept 

They’re likely to be killed in a war.

But you couldn’t kill us all. Either you’d

Get sick of your killing, or others

Would stop you long before you

Got to the millions. 

c. J.S.Manista, 2017