Honor The Dead

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Now, after the anniversary of 9/11, it is time to honor the thousand who died in Iraq in the same way as we honor the slain of that awful day.

With deep emotions we memorialized the third anniversary this year.

At eight forty-five that morning, I was at Penn Station in New York where Amtrak security and NY Police formed into a phalanx headed by bagpipes. A mien of prayer and thoughtfulness took over the entire station. It was beautifully done with sincerity and feeling.

Those killed in Iraq deserve our memories�repeating their names in prayer and public media. As Bush has said, this is not a war to win. This is a war where almost three thousand dead from September 11, 2001 will grow in numbers, starting with the thousand who have been killed overseas.

According to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the death toll is "relatively small." And he is right in that there will be more. But we need to begin to honor who they were, for as the count increases, our sadness will grow.

Injured.

More than seven thousand Americans have been injured in Iraq. We pray for them. But we don't see them, hidden from much of the public media and from our public prayers. Over 10,000 non-Americans have been killed in Iraq. Where are they? We don't see them either, hidden too from the media and prayer. We don't even see the thousand of our own.

Killed.

In patriotic fervor, on September ninth, candlelight vigils were held in towns everywhere for the first thousand lost to Bush's War. Let us now honor them every day until this war ends, making a permanent memorial not to the war but to the end of the war. Not to our victory alone, but to the victory of all people in the deepest of patriotism and for the love of God.

These dead are lost to the ways of war. It is time we honored them and let their names be known. Obligated to the dead, we must also support our living soldiers, bringing them home. Yes, we must stay the course�the course of peace.

When pit bulls fight, the negotiation is over. When humans fight, we have the spirit to give. And there are ways to give that are not "giving in."

It is time to speak�to negotiate. It is always time to speak. Not to the vanquished, but to the spirit in each of us�so victory can be for everyone. There is only one way to stop evil and it is not to kill.

Our brothers and sisters are injured and dead. The evil lies not in any one person, but in the fighting. May I explain:

In Tolkien's trilogy, Sauron represented the evil. His ascendance resulted from our evil�the desire to kill and the greed for power. Sauron was countered by the wisdom of Gandalf.

Not to kill Gollum, Gandalf advises Bilbo. "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends�. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet."

The reign of evil came to a fiery end when killing came to an end. Bilbo, and then Frodo, refused to kill Gollum. Gollum then led Frodo to the one place where the ring of power could be destroyed. If it were not for Gollum the war would have raged on.

Tolkien gave Gollum two personalities, the desperately greedy vs. the good. That dichotomy exists in each of us. We want to be the war president and we want to be the pious father, speaking in God's name, leading our country into morality even if it takes lies to do it. When we war, we do not know when we will kill that "Gollum" who may finally lead us to redemption and peace.

Some history. During the presidency of Bush the father, the United States built up Saddam Hussein as an antidote to what we saw as evil. Hussein's actions were no better in those days, but supporting him was politically expedient. Osama Bin Laden was no friend of Hussein. He was a friend of ours in those days. Back then, we built him up as an antidote to what we saw as evil. Supporting him was politically expedient. Now, Bin Laden attacked us. So we attacked Hussein. It was politically expedient.

Is political expediency not evil?

Will the circle be unbroken?

If we stop fighting for political expediency and building the power of those who would do us harm, the power and the good will come back to us all. Honor our living and our dead, and those of our enemies. Count them out loud and do not hide their numbers. Account publicly for those who are killed.

There will be no end of fighting until we bring the fighting to an end.

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Dr. Paul Aaron's publications include: "White Flower" and "Our Blessed Love Enduring." "Catastrophizing" was performed by the Deep Dish Theater Company at the Cornucopia House Cancer Support Center in 2003.

In 1971, Dr. Aaron began teaching Yoga and meditation. In 1972 he became the owner of Manna Fest Station, a natural foods macrobiotic restaurant. The Journals of Manna Fest Station are in his plans to publish next year. Organic gardening is still the way of his family�s kitchen table and he continues teaching in the fields of Nutrition and Meditation.

Graduating cum laude from Logan College of Chiropractic in 1983, Aaron practiced Chiropractic and Acupuncture until the point that Democracy and writing demanded all his attention.