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In reply to the discussion: Why do we buy into the worship of the military? [View all]hauweg
(98 posts)130. by Wolfgang Borchert
This poem was written in 1947 a few days before Borchert died at the age of 26. The following is an adaptation of the German version, first prepared by youth participants at the vigil for peace and justice at the WCC Assembly in Vancouver in 1983.
You. Man at the machine and man in the workshop. If tomorrow they tell you you are to make no more water-pipes and saucepans but are to make steel helmets and machine-guns, then there's only one thing to do:
Say NO!
You. Woman at the counter and woman in the office. If tomorrow they tell you you are to fill shells and assemble telescopic sights for snipers' rifles, then there's only one thing to do:
Say NO!
You. Research worker in the laboratory. If tomorrow they tell you you are to invent a new death for the old life, then there's only one thing to do:
Say NO!
You. Priest in the pulpit. If tomorrow they tell you you are to bless murder and declare war holy, then there's only one thing to do:
Say NO!
You. Pilot in your aeroplane. If tomorrow they tell you you are to
carry bombs over the cities, then there's only one thing to do: Say NO!
You. Man of the village and man of the town. If tomorrow they come and give you your call-up papers, then there's only one thing to do:
Say NO!
You. Mother in Normandy and mother in the Ukraine, mother in Vancouver and in London, you on the Hwangho and on the Mississippi, you in Naples and Hamburg and Cairo and Oslo - mothers in all parts of the earth, mothers of the world, if tomorrow they tell you you are to bear new soldiers for new battles, then there's only one thing to do:
Say NO!
For if you do not say NO - if YOU do not say no - mothers, then: then!
In the bustling hazy harbour towns the big ships will fall silent as corpses against the dead deserted quay walls, their once shimmering bodies overgrown with seaweed and barnacles, smelling of graveyards and rotten fish.
The trams will lie like senseless glass-eyed cages beside the twisted steel skeleton of wires and track.
The sunny juicy vine will rot on decaying hillsides, rice will dry in the withered earth, potatoes will freeze in the unploughed land and cows will stick their death-still legs into the air like overturned chairs.
In the fields beside rusted ploughs the corn will be flattened like a beaten army.
Then the last human creature, with mangled entrails and infected lungs, will wander around, unanswered and lonely, under the poisonous glowing sun, among the immense mass graves and devastated cities.
The last human creature, withered, mad, cursing, accusing - and the terrible accusation: WHY?
will die unheard on the plains, drift through the ruins, seep into the rubble of churches, fall into pools of blood, unheard, unanswered,
the last animal scream of the last human animal -
All this will happen tomorrow, tomorrow, perhaps, perhaps even tonight, perhaps tonight, if - if -
You do not say NO.
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well someone has to die to protect the interests of American multi-national corporations nt
msongs
Nov 2019
#1
Don't get me started on firefighters. Yes there is danger and some put there lives on the
Dream Girl
Nov 2019
#4
The idea that police work is incredibly dangerous or "riskier" as you put it, is a canard
A HERETIC I AM
Nov 2019
#133
First Gulf War and before that, the invasion of Panama. The first Cable TV wars.
ArtTownsend
Nov 2019
#89
You are right. I meant to put on a very broad scale in that sentence but forgot.
Blue_true
Nov 2019
#221
Oh, so good to know. Lincoln and the war had nothing to do with freeing the slaves.
cwydro
Nov 2019
#18
Truly, Lincoln was a man of great conscience and morality, and ending slavery was important to him.
colorado_ufo
Nov 2019
#43
You're close in using "fairy tales," but not the way you think. No offense intended, but millions
ancianita
Nov 2019
#122
Have you ever talked to anybody who lived in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania,
EX500rider
Dec 2019
#241
In reality, it's just lip service. Veterans and not respected. They are viewed as disposable
Dream Girl
Nov 2019
#15
RIGHT !!! Support Troops by not feeding MIC and keeping them out of stupid wars and over feeding VA
uponit7771
Nov 2019
#154
I think a lot of it has to do with that. Stories told that were not necessarily true has us all
Jewls2
Nov 2019
#56
I read a while back that someone did some research, and there are no
PoindexterOglethorpe
Nov 2019
#85
That is correct. It was pretty much manufactured outrage to punch the hippies and war protesters.
ArtTownsend
Nov 2019
#96
That girl was injured by Vietnamese napalm from the Vietnamese air force, not Americans.
braddy
Nov 2019
#111
It's not possible to say it never happened, but I believe it is difficult to find
mahatmakanejeeves
Nov 2019
#109
Wars like WWI and WWII were a lot different from the junk we "fight" today. Today, we have too many
Hoyt
Nov 2019
#17
Imagine what kind of country this could be without the obscene level of military spending
Dream Girl
Nov 2019
#19
Gallagher enlisted under Clinton's presidency was highly decorated and one of our top navy SEALs and
braddy
Nov 2019
#142
Screw hired killers. Worthless POS -- Gallagher -- murdered children in some gungho fit of hatred.
Hoyt
Nov 2019
#146
Eisenhower never saw combat and Rumsfeld went directly from chairman of Gilead to Bush's admin.
braddy
Nov 2019
#119
I am thankful for our men and women who have served, are serving, and will serve.
egduj
Nov 2019
#32
Because Republicans made Military Service equal to the highest form of patriotism
NewJeffCT
Nov 2019
#38
Ignorant of history much? If it wasn't for our military, America wouldn't exist
Baclava
Nov 2019
#41
Honour the PERSON. Nobody joins military to "serve" corporations; so, yes we do HONOUR service
Bernardo de La Paz
Nov 2019
#42
Good post. I think your premise about WAR is spot on. And runs MUCH deeper than your
pangaia
Nov 2019
#44
I'm not dissing them. At all. Wat I'm dissing is the military worship I see
Dream Girl
Nov 2019
#110
Also, since higher education is expensive, many people join the military for college funding
KSNY
Nov 2019
#57
The draftee served an IMPORTANT role, and it's something that is mostly missing in today's military
Brother Buzz
Nov 2019
#219
Fast froward a few years and we learn us dumb veterans of the Army of the United States (AUS)....
Brother Buzz
Dec 2019
#243
Hardly anyone knows that because the media paints Vietnam as a disgruntled, loser, draftee war,
braddy
Nov 2019
#128
I didn't hear complaints about Vietnam in the Army, except about how we were fighting it.
braddy
Nov 2019
#141
"Korea ... we lost that war" If we had lost that war N Korea would have owned the whole country.
EX500rider
Nov 2019
#222
I considered it an honor to serve my nation on active military duty for 20 years.
40RatRod
Nov 2019
#68
Post-Vietnam efforts by the Reagan-Bush era revanchists. 9/11 and the "War on Terror" certainly made
ArtTownsend
Nov 2019
#91
Because they are willing to die to protect and defend the Constitution
bottomofthehill
Nov 2019
#101
Military service was normal for generations of men, for instance 10 million boomers served, since
braddy
Nov 2019
#121
usually comes from people who have no idea what the military is about, just saying
beachbumbob
Nov 2019
#127
My point is the undue worship we are expected to pay. Those in the military are entitled
Dream Girl
Nov 2019
#134
We don't. We respect soldiers as trying to do their duty regardless of our personal feeling about
emmaverybo
Nov 2019
#166
I don't worship the military, so next time America is under attack, I'm on my own..
Dream Girl
Nov 2019
#170
The military is a jobs program that serves the corporations and their interests.
Autumn
Nov 2019
#183
In my life/world, I have to keep silent on what I think of the military/industrial/corporate complex
Ferrets are Cool
Nov 2019
#187
Thanks for that. I remember when I was about 8 or 9 seeing the obituaries of the
Dream Girl
Nov 2019
#217
The military can be an awesome opportunity if one wants to take advantage of it
madville
Dec 2019
#239
Sounds like a sweet deal. You made it work for you and it sounds like you don't need or expect
Dream Girl
Dec 2019
#240