Folks, we all know the struggles that Winston Churchill had in trying to warn and in preparing his countryman for the war that surely lay just ahead. This was not pessimism but common sense. So in line with this.....
We've had a very high ranking general recently say that a big war is coming.....my words.....his were a little saltier. OK...what's a big war.....Vietnam size? Possibly....but what if it's Vietnam in three different theaters of war? Well, the first thing is that we don't have a big enough military to fight three wars of that size....we may not even have enough to fight one war of that size.
For the sake of argument let's say that there was restraint and no one went nuclear. I bring this up because we tend to automatically think that a world war would be nuclear today.....so why even think about it.....and it very likely would be......but not necessarily at first.....so consequently we don't spend time considering a World War II type war. We would need at least ten times the number of military personnel that we have. Folks that means a draft.
Who do we draft? Remember.....Donald Trump would be the president.....that means that it's an automatic....condemn whatever he does.....at least for half of America. Draft dodgers might not have to go to Canada this time.....they may only have to go to the closest sanctuary city. What about sexual orientation not to mention gender determination as it pertains to a draft....what about immigration status? Would Drill Sergeants still be able to yell at anyone? We have to have safe spaces with adult students on university campuses....how are we going to have conscripted recruits fight with pugil sticks in basic training. It's all volunteer now.....you know what you are getting into.....but forcing someone to run at a dummy....yelling....while they plunge a bayonet into it is something else. (I know this is dated but you get the point I'm sure)
From what I understand.....Congress and the President would have to come up with the final specifics on who gets drafted and then give it to the Selective Service System to send the letters out and give the personal examinations to see who would be fit to serve in the military. Who knows what would come out of these....bipartisan......meetings. What I want to do in this post is just to have the reader consider that a military draft is not only possible.....it may be probable. If a public discussion on the draft would occur right now it just might be an impetus for the soberness and solemnity that we need....which need not be a somberness. If these things are going to happen.....we better be a nation in prayer.
Stark Contrast.....May, 2014
Surely somewhere in America on that bleak or snowy Saturday in early December 1941 a young man sat looking out of a restaurant window, or maybe a coffee shop, with a young lady at his side who was his new bride. They had the world at their fingertips as he was just awarded that treasured college diploma he worked so long and hard for, and she wore the wedding band she had dreamed about since they first met in grade school. They looked into each other's eyes with hardly a care in the world. Oh, the plans they had so much fun making.....a small cottage with a white picket fence that someday would keep little ones and maybe a puppy dog from straying as they play.
And then the morning came and as they walked into church the somber faces took their joy away for they had not heard the news from that group of islands where the sun shown year round and warm surf slapped the white beaches. America was in the war against evil that they had only given themselves minutes a day to reflect upon. The young bride knew immediately that their dreams would now be put on hold if they would ever come true. Surely the prayers of all present in that worship service were salted with tears.
Not every generation has its hopes interrupted as that generation did on December 7th, 1941 but our younger generation today may indeed be another one. Colleges and universities are having their commencement right about now and the hopes and dreams of many wearing mortar boards and gowns are exactly the same as the young couple that I described.
I'm a news junky and the daily pain from the news of this world has made it such that I could never lose myself in plans or even hopes and dreams. Love is disappearing in the world....no.... worse than that, it has been hijacked by greed, tortured by pride and what is left is directed to ourselves and we in America are paying dearly for our dalliances.
The 1943 Academy Award for Best Picture went to the 1942 American film Mrs. Miniver in which Greer Garson also won for Best Actress. It portrays the upper middle class Miniver family who live outside of London in a very nice home on the River Thames. I list this film as one of my favorites in my Profile for this blog.
Life could not be sweeter for Mrs. Miniver and her family as she is smitten over an expensive new hat and her husband (Walter Pidgeon) outdoes her by purchasing a sporty new vehicle. Their eldest son has taken up the pipe at university and spouts his political views with heartfelt sincerity but naive certainty much like our youth today and very much like myself at that age. War looms on the horizon but is not taken seriously until England declares war on Germany. Life then changes for the family as their son goes off to war and as their own home is damaged by bombs.
There is a church scene at the beginning of the film and another at the end and the stark contrast of the two is the essence of the film. Americans would already have experienced the realities of war when the movie came out and the intended purpose of the motion picture was to rally the American public by showing them the courage and stamina of the British homefront in a war they had already been in for three years. Winston Churchill commented on the book and the film in that they did more for the war effort than a flotilla of battleships.
I highly recommend the film for we are in need of a reality check on what lies before us in America, and our congregations are in need of soberness in our worship services that would eliminate distractions and focus us solely on who we are there to worship.
We've had a very high ranking general recently say that a big war is coming.....my words.....his were a little saltier. OK...what's a big war.....Vietnam size? Possibly....but what if it's Vietnam in three different theaters of war? Well, the first thing is that we don't have a big enough military to fight three wars of that size....we may not even have enough to fight one war of that size.
For the sake of argument let's say that there was restraint and no one went nuclear. I bring this up because we tend to automatically think that a world war would be nuclear today.....so why even think about it.....and it very likely would be......but not necessarily at first.....so consequently we don't spend time considering a World War II type war. We would need at least ten times the number of military personnel that we have. Folks that means a draft.
Who do we draft? Remember.....Donald Trump would be the president.....that means that it's an automatic....condemn whatever he does.....at least for half of America. Draft dodgers might not have to go to Canada this time.....they may only have to go to the closest sanctuary city. What about sexual orientation not to mention gender determination as it pertains to a draft....what about immigration status? Would Drill Sergeants still be able to yell at anyone? We have to have safe spaces with adult students on university campuses....how are we going to have conscripted recruits fight with pugil sticks in basic training. It's all volunteer now.....you know what you are getting into.....but forcing someone to run at a dummy....yelling....while they plunge a bayonet into it is something else. (I know this is dated but you get the point I'm sure)
From what I understand.....Congress and the President would have to come up with the final specifics on who gets drafted and then give it to the Selective Service System to send the letters out and give the personal examinations to see who would be fit to serve in the military. Who knows what would come out of these....bipartisan......meetings. What I want to do in this post is just to have the reader consider that a military draft is not only possible.....it may be probable. If a public discussion on the draft would occur right now it just might be an impetus for the soberness and solemnity that we need....which need not be a somberness. If these things are going to happen.....we better be a nation in prayer.
Stark Contrast.....May, 2014
Surely somewhere in America on that bleak or snowy Saturday in early December 1941 a young man sat looking out of a restaurant window, or maybe a coffee shop, with a young lady at his side who was his new bride. They had the world at their fingertips as he was just awarded that treasured college diploma he worked so long and hard for, and she wore the wedding band she had dreamed about since they first met in grade school. They looked into each other's eyes with hardly a care in the world. Oh, the plans they had so much fun making.....a small cottage with a white picket fence that someday would keep little ones and maybe a puppy dog from straying as they play.
And then the morning came and as they walked into church the somber faces took their joy away for they had not heard the news from that group of islands where the sun shown year round and warm surf slapped the white beaches. America was in the war against evil that they had only given themselves minutes a day to reflect upon. The young bride knew immediately that their dreams would now be put on hold if they would ever come true. Surely the prayers of all present in that worship service were salted with tears.
Not every generation has its hopes interrupted as that generation did on December 7th, 1941 but our younger generation today may indeed be another one. Colleges and universities are having their commencement right about now and the hopes and dreams of many wearing mortar boards and gowns are exactly the same as the young couple that I described.
I'm a news junky and the daily pain from the news of this world has made it such that I could never lose myself in plans or even hopes and dreams. Love is disappearing in the world....no.... worse than that, it has been hijacked by greed, tortured by pride and what is left is directed to ourselves and we in America are paying dearly for our dalliances.
The 1943 Academy Award for Best Picture went to the 1942 American film Mrs. Miniver in which Greer Garson also won for Best Actress. It portrays the upper middle class Miniver family who live outside of London in a very nice home on the River Thames. I list this film as one of my favorites in my Profile for this blog.
Life could not be sweeter for Mrs. Miniver and her family as she is smitten over an expensive new hat and her husband (Walter Pidgeon) outdoes her by purchasing a sporty new vehicle. Their eldest son has taken up the pipe at university and spouts his political views with heartfelt sincerity but naive certainty much like our youth today and very much like myself at that age. War looms on the horizon but is not taken seriously until England declares war on Germany. Life then changes for the family as their son goes off to war and as their own home is damaged by bombs.
There is a church scene at the beginning of the film and another at the end and the stark contrast of the two is the essence of the film. Americans would already have experienced the realities of war when the movie came out and the intended purpose of the motion picture was to rally the American public by showing them the courage and stamina of the British homefront in a war they had already been in for three years. Winston Churchill commented on the book and the film in that they did more for the war effort than a flotilla of battleships.
I highly recommend the film for we are in need of a reality check on what lies before us in America, and our congregations are in need of soberness in our worship services that would eliminate distractions and focus us solely on who we are there to worship.
