Peace, Be Still

Now that President Bush has planted the flag of liberty in the Middle East, I’m wondering if I should take down the last of my Christmas decorations. We did remove the red, white, and blue lights from our porch in early January. Gondola Santa returned to the basement shortly thereafter. But what about that ceramic dove hanging on the front door below a word that gets its best press at Christmastime? I mean “peace.” Should “peace” go back into its box for yet another year?

Whenever I drive to Abingdon on I-81, I pause to look at our sign near Exit 19: “Peace, Be Still.” It’s a profound sign that works its message year-round. How many of us drive past that icon and pause to reflect or pray or find a quiet moment within the pace (or peace) of the car as it travels down the road (or, dare I say, life’s highway)? It’s nice to see this reminder outdoors, not just in a church. Perhaps we need more of these signs planted, like the flag of liberty, up and down highways between communities like ours and our nation’s capitol.

Shortly after he was inaugurated for his second term in office, President Bush asked for billions of dollars to extend the war effort, or whatever you want to call it, in Iraq and Afghanistan—leading the expenditures there to go even higher than what seems astronomical. As soon as I read that in the news, I thought of an old poster a teacher I know hangs in his office: “What if the schools got all the money they needed and the military had to have a bake sale to build a bomb?” I thought of the troops in Iraq risking their lives, or giving them.

I’m not naïve. I know that money is fungible. Who’s to say that if we spent less money on military matters, we’d shift things around so all my favorite causes were addressed? Perhaps I would still have to worry about resources and health care for the elderly, educational opportunities across our nation, and assaults on the environment here and abroad. Perhaps the extra windfall would be sent into outer space. Perhaps soldiers in the Middle East would still have to write home to ask for better food to eat, insect spray, and chapstick.

When will our troops come home? Even with Iraq completing the election, an election that cost much more in human life than in dollars or goodwill, I’m not sure Congress will push President Bush to set a deadline for the withdrawal of our overdrawn troops. Secretary of State Rice says troops will stay until Iraq can take care of its own security. Having grown up alongside the conflict in Vietnam, I know not to hold my breath. When war begins to feel like peace, and peacekeeping feels war-like, I wish every day could be as hopeful as Christmas.

As the men and women serving in the Middle East do get to come home to their families, there will be others ready to replace them. Enrollment in many high school ROTC programs has increased. The No Child Left Behind Act grants military recruiters access to personal contact information. College costs are escalating, and military recruitment packages are enticing to young people with aspirations. As one young woman in Boston reported to The Enterprise, a Boston paper, last week, “I decided it was better for me to fight for my country than not do anything.” Peace, be still. I wish, within our own land of liberty, she felt she had more than two choices.

Felicia Mitchell. First published in Washington County News (Abingdon, VA), 2 February 2005, p. A4. WCN is a publication of Media General Operations. Copyright 2005.