I was born on June 11, 1944, which, of course, makes me 80 years old. Being born in the United States in 1944 was a little unusual because so many of the potential fathers were overseas fighting in World War II. My Dad was a pilot, a very good one. He was transferred back to the United States to work as a flight instructor for one year. He arrived on September 11, 1943 (do the math). During the year of my Mom’s pregnancy and the first months after my birth, my parents were transferred to different bases around the United States. They happened to be in Oklahoma when I breathed my first. After three months, Dad was sent to the South Pacific, where he served as a reconnaissance pilot for the rest of the war, which had gone on too long.
The United States had lost 400,000 military lives. In total, worldwide, 15 million died in battle. Between 1939 and 1946, 85 million people had died as a result of war. Most of these were civilians. Too many were children.
The United States dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima on August 6, 1946, and three days later, “Fat Man” on Nagasaki. That ended the war.
But it didn’t bring peace.
Life in the United States in 1950s might be remembered as peaceful. Other than Pearl Harbor, the U.S. had escaped being bombed. Life could return to normal for most people. But we didn’t have peace. We didn’t have peace at home (for example, there was systemic racism and sexism) and we didn’t have peace internationally. Think about all the military conflicts in which the U.S. has engaged since then– Korea, Vietnam, Central America, just to name a few.
Very quickly we were into the Cold War and the arms race. The U.S. and the Soviet Union each amassed thousands of nuclear warheads, each of them 25 to 40 times as powerful as “Little Boy” and “Fat Man.” Just one of these could kill millions of people. By the mid-1980s there were probably 70,000 nuclear weapons. The cost of the arms race in dollars was staggering. Might there have been a better use for the money?
Today there are about 12,000 of these weapons. And this still doesn’t bring peace.
Catholic teaching on war is set in the context of peace. Peace is the dream of God, the order willed by God. Rather than judging how much violence can be morally justified, we should be promoting peace based on justice and love.
How can you and I work for peace? Peace must first take root in our hearts. We must start with respect and love for ourselves and for each other. We don’t have to go to war in our minds when people disagree with us. We can work to create a climate of harmony and support for the common good.
We can vote to elect people whose policies reflect those values. We can write letters to our elected officials in support of peace and justice. In our personal lives we can strive to be peacemakers. We can study resources such as Pax Christi. We can treat each other well. We can feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty. We can “Love one another.” After all, that is what Jesus asks us to do.
Jeanette Arnquist is a former Director of the Department of Life, Dignity & Justice for the Diocese of San Bernardino. She is retired and living in Tucson, Arizona where she remains active in social concerns ministries.