On Veteran's Day

"Dedicated to the Deserters of All Wars"

Nikolaus Kernbach, Stuttgart, Germany 2007.

 For the Unknown Deserters 

 Designed by Mehmet Aksoy, Potsdam Germany (1989).

 
Memorial to Unknown Deserters
Hannah Stuetz Menzel (1989/2005), Ulm, Germany.

I am not a pacifist. But I also suspect that most wars are unnecessary and doubt that even the truly unavoidable ones are justifiable. So, on this day when we are meant to be honoring Veterans - those given honorific status for having fought in wars - I want to note some discordant memorials. These all are in Germany. And there, of course, many people have a deep sense that their country perpetrated an especially heinous war. It is difficult not to agree. But, as the saying goes, 'He who is without sin should cast the first stone.' Do we need to feel the need to atone for crimes on the scale of the Nazis in order to wonder whether those who simply turn and walk away might not be taking an heroic stance?

__________

P.S.: I was prompted to track down these memorials - and several others - by reading James Scott. 2012. Two Cheers for Anarchism. Princeton UP. Overall, the book is not as provocative as I'd anticipated. But it raises a set of smart questions.

Veteran's Day Lyric

It is Veteran's Day again. And, once again, Tom Waits supplies an appropriate lyric. The actual performance of the song pulses harshly with adrenaline and the sort of barely contained hysteria that comes from knowing there are people, visible and not, willing and hoping to kill you. And then you are "home?"

Hell Broke Luce
Tom Waits*

I had a good home but I left
I had a good home but I left, right, left
That big fucking bomb made me deaf, deaf
A Humvee mechanic put his Kevlar on wrong
I guarantee you’ll meet up with a suicide bomb
Hell broke luce
Hell broke luce

Big fucking ditches in the middle of the road
You pay a hundred dollars just for fillin’ in the hole
Listen to the general every goddamn word
How many ways can you polish up a turd
Left, right, left, left, right
Left, right
Hell broke luce
Hell broke luce
Hell broke luce

How is it that the only ones responsible for making this mess
Got their sorry asses stapled to a goddamn desk
Hell broke luce
Hell broke luce
Left, right, left

What did you do before the war?
I was a chef, I was a chef
What was your name?
It was Geoff, Geoff
I lost my buddy and I wept, wept
I come down from the meth
So I slept, slept
I had a good home but I left, left
Pantsed at the wind for a joke
I pranced right in with the dope
Glanced at her shin she said nope
Left, right, left

Nimrod Bodfish have you any wool
Get me another body bag the body bag’s full
My face was scorched, scorched
I miss my home I miss my porch, porch
Left, right, left

Can I go home in March? March
My stanch was a chin full of soap
That rancid dinner with the pope
Left, right, left

Kelly Presutto got his thumbs blown off
Sergio’s developing a real bad cough
Sergio’s developing a real bad cough
Hell broke luce
Hell broke luce
Hell broke luce

Boom went his head away
And boom went Valerie
What the hell was it that the president said?
Give him a beautiful parade instead
Left, right, left

When I was over here I never got to vote
I left my arm in my coat
My mom she died and never wrote
We sat by the fire and ate a goat
Just before he died he had a toke
Now I’m home and I’m blind
And I’m broke
What is next
__________
* From: Bad as Me (Anti, 2011).