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QUITE A MAN
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“Your grandfather was quite a man…special insights and gifts…” |
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I quoted my granddad a blue sheet or so ago as I sometimes do. It was a
bit of a poem in which he was defending the right of citizens to speak
up to their government. He thought that was an important duty of citizenship
that he performed by way of poems to the newspaper and participation in
occasional anti-military demonstrations prior to World War II. He marched
on the docks of Seattle against sending of scrap iron to Japan that was
destined to become weapons of war. |
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Some things you have to know about the man—and I only know what I heard
from my mother and read in his poems—is that he raised his family in the
midst of World War I, the “war to end all wars.” It was a terrible war
that brought nations into the League of Nations, vowing to disarm the world
and enjoy lasting peace. It was a time for pacifism. |
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It was not long until the ever-present armaments industries began to build
weapons of war. The rumbles and rumors of war were rising in the late 20’s
and early 30’s. Hitler gained power and began building a strong military
force. No nation had power to resist. The League of Nations that was meant
to keep the peace had no army. Hitler was a socio-path loose cannon in
the world. He ran rampant across Europe. It was a miracle that he didn’t
take England. |
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During the 30’s there was increasing feeling that America should get involved
in the war. There were isolationists, as there always are. There were also
philosophical pacifists, like my granddad. |
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You should know that he was an educated man. I don’t think of him as a
naïve “peace-nik.” He was well read. As a boy I was impressed with
all the books he owned. He always gave us books for Christmas. He trained
as an Organist and Clergyman at Oberlin College. He was a Congregational
Minister in California and Seattle for some years before going into “honest
work” as a carpenter, landlord and Postal worker. |
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I would guess him to have been a Christian socialist. Interestingly, with
all his complaints about the excesses of capitalism, he was a practicing
capitalist, investing in real estate and managing it. |
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Most of the poems I have were written during the pre-World War II era.
I would like to know how much he knew about what Hitler was doing. Did
he have any idea of the anti-Semitism and the holocaust? What about Stalin,
another murderous leader? What were his feelings about nations being over-run
and devoured by crazed militarism? |
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While everyone is for peace and against war, is there a time when pacifism
is no answer? I think perhaps Gandhi and King would propose an active non-violent
response to evil that is different from simply being anti-war. I know that
there are times in certain mental health situations that some form of physical
intervention is necessary. To do nothing is to participate in whatever
violence results. |
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When my own dad volunteered for service in the U.S. Navy (he was beyond
draft age and had four sons at home that qualified him for exemption if
he chose) I’m sure my granddad was both dismayed and saddened. My dad didn’t
believe in war either, but didn’t know any other way. |
While my granddad raged against making war, his poems go much deeper than
it seems. He writes about greed and hypocrisy, about his country “First
plucking out the blinding beam of its own bigotry and pride.”
He distrusted leaders afflicted with power and overly influenced by the
forces of business and armaments builders. He deplored the world’s readiness
to threaten war so easily:
“My family, my
race, My country, my place, My commerce, my trade,
My honor, self
made, My power, my right, My virtue — We’ll fight!”
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His underlying belief was that war doesn’t fix anything. He believed that
the future of our species—if it is to have a future—depends on a policy
of humanity and justice and peacemaking. He doesn’t give me any clues about
what
he would do if the world were threatened by one who proves to have an arsenal
of horribly deadly chemical and biological weapons. It is clear that if
war seemed necessary he didn’t like the idea of anyone feeling righteous
or good or “Christian” about it. |
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“If ye must take up arms and fight like fiends and die, God pity you, but
O, call not in pious rot
Upon
the Christ whom ye blaspheme and crucify, When ye go forth your brother
man to kill and rob.” (Arthur D. Weage)
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Art Morgan, Feb.
2003
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