{"id":129180,"date":"2019-03-11T12:09:20","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T12:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=129180"},"modified":"2020-05-17T04:48:04","modified_gmt":"2020-05-17T03:48:04","slug":"war-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/03\/war-7\/","title":{"rendered":"WAR!"},"content":{"rendered":"

War! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Side pitted against other!
\nHuman against human!
\nPrimitive!
\nArms against arms!
\nBelief against belief!
\nLife, lives, time, \u2026 lost!<\/p>\n

War!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conscience, reason, thought,
\nVictim to purpose, intent, goal!
\nWaves . . .
\nEmotion, illusion, delusion!<\/p>\n

War!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Common purpose!
\nShared pride!
\nWe-ness!
\nComfort!
\n\u201cRestraint?
\n\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

War!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Slogans:
\n\u201cWe came, we saw, we conquered.\u201d
\n\u201cFor God, country, . . . you know!
\n\u201cMight makes right!\u201d<\/p>\n

War!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Glorified by winners!
\nShattered minds, broken bodies, torn hearts,
\nNow heroes.
\nMedals, parades, promotions.
\nGod is on our side!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>War!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Past re-written!
\nHistory revised!
\nJustify!
\n\u201cWe had reasons\u201d
\n\u201cTo the winner belongs the spoils!\u201d<\/p>\n

War!<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are spoils?
\nLand, goods . . . more!
\nWealth, power, position,
\nFear!
\n\u00a0\u201cLook on my works, ye mighty and despair! \u00a0<\/em>
\nLines remembered, but not poem!<\/p>\n

War! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Loser\u2019s restrained!
\nCareful!
\nPraise, gratitude, excuses seen as boasts!
\nBoasts for what?
\nLosing!<\/p>\n

War!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Comfort found in shared grief.
\nTears ok!
\nSobs better!
\nBody weak,
\nRevenge remains,
\nn heart and mind!<\/p>\n

War!<\/strong><\/p>\n

History re-written,
\nNot forgotten!
\nMyths survive!
\nWe-ness denied!
\nRegret?
\nRetrospect: \u201cIf only . . .\u201d
\nSurvivors!<\/strong>
\nSoldiers:
\nLifetime memories!
\nNone shared, except with others who were there!
\nNo one else understands,
\nWhat we did . . . !
\nScars!
\nBrain tattoos.<\/p>\n

War! <\/strong><\/p>\n

No one wins in war!
\nExcept those . . .
\nWho caused it,
\nPlanned it,
\nMapped it,
\nWith pens, pencils, markers,
\nGrins, smiles, satisfaction!<\/p>\n

War! <\/strong><\/p>\n

No one wins in war!
\nExcept those . . .
\nWho live for it,
\nFinding in war,
\nOpportunity for fame, legacy,
\nEternity!<\/p>\n

Except those . . .
\nFinding in war:
\nIdentity, meaning, purpose, certainty.
\nEssentials denied societies
\nCaught in ennui, tedium, failure;
\nThose reveling in anger, violence, rage,
\nSeeking revenge against life!<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Emeritus Professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii\u2019s Manoa Campus in Honolulu, Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu. \u00a0He is known internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 21 books and more than 300 articles, tech reports, and popular commentaries. His<\/em> TMS articles may be accessed<\/em> HERE<\/a> and he can be reached at <\/em>marsella@hawaii.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

War!
\nSide pitted against other!
\nHuman against human!
\nPrimitive!
\nArms against arms!
\nBelief against belief!
\nLife, lives, time, \u2026 lost! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":68088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[101,100,504,99,92,118,481],"class_list":["post-129180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-cultural-violence","tag-direct-violence","tag-international-relations","tag-structural-violence","tag-violent-conflict","tag-war","tag-warfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}