I'd encourage you to listen to the song and read through the lyrics before diving into the post.
Live by the sword
Die by the sword
Say you want peace
But forever make war
Freedom ain’t free
Better aim for the core
But freedom ain’t freedom
If you killin’ the poor (2x)
Would you die for what you believed at 18?
Do you trust your teenage perception of complexities
Of self
Of God
Of Good and evil
Right and wrong
Truth
Love
Global Economy
Foreign Relations
Just War Theory
Did you even know what those terms meant back then?
Armed forces recruits youth to fight wars of cowardly men
Three years too young to be trusted with a margarita
but Uncle Sam handin’ teenagers guns
Children deployed to front lines
at the command of a commander in chief
they were too young to vote for
Killin’ poor folk they do not know
over conflicts they do not understand
And when they die
we thank them for their service
Drape patriotism over their casket
and claim they sacrificed for freedom’s sake
I for one am not grateful
I grieve for the loss of life
But they ain’t die for my freedom
If you die for America, you die for a nation
that still treats me sub-human
Fallen soldiers are victims, not heroes
Victims of a government that sends their young and poor to early graves
All because old men are stuck in their ways
Willing to sacrifice other people’s lives to
maintain power and privilege
Running to war as a first resort
Not creative enough to dream up other forms of conflict resolution
Unless of course THEY are the terrorists
The White knights lynching the innocent
Police brutalizing the citizens
Then they prefer peaceful protest
Then they believe nonviolent resistance to evil is effective
Sometimes I wonder if these wars were domestic
Would they think twice about bombing enemy lairs in residential areas
in Beverly Hills, in Time Square?
If civilian casualties were their own wives and children would they
be eager to wage warfare?
Would they get better at diplomacy?
Learn how to compromise?
De-escalate tensions?
Learn to fight fire with water
War with peace
Stop spending billions on defense
And pour resource into foreign aid
education and disaster relief
Make friends out of would-be enemies
Fight evil with poetry
Appoint Rappers as foreign ambassadors
‘Cause hip hop already united the atlas
Middle-eastern kids bumpin’ Chance and Kendrick
There is another way
No disrespect to vets with post-traumatic stress
or soldiers who lost their life
But no one is a hero just ‘cause they fight
I am not grateful your service
I don’t know what you did on tour
Even aside from possible war crimes
I’m not sure if I believe in this war
But I am grateful you made it back alive
I do pray you find peace for your war-torn mind
I do pray you put down your weapon and realize
You can fight for freedom without killing for it
You can die for freedom without killing for it
That’s the only kind of freedom worth fighting for
Worth dying for
Worth living for
But if you live by the sword…
Live by the sword
Die by the sword
Say you want peace
But forever make war
Freedom ain’t free
Better aim for the core
But freedom ain’t freedom
If you killin’ the poor (3x)
5 - Just War Theory
Live by the sword
Die by the sword
Say you want peace
But forever make war
Freedom ain’t free
Better aim for the core
But freedom ain’t freedom
If you killin’ the poor (2x)
I think I’m becoming a pacifist. Concerning human conflicts, I can’t find any other stance consistent with my faith in Jesus. On one hand, I’m all about the use of violence to stop injustice. If I’m honest, I’m glad many nations dropped bombs on Nazis to stop Hitler in WWII. If I had a child, and they were getting bullied at school, part of me would want to teach them how to throw a solid uppercut. But are there ways other than violence to stop bullies like Hitler? It’s hard to imagine any type of non-violent resistance being effective in a conflict of that nature, but, the world has never tried. Nations rush to the use of violence, particularly when it is an issue that most consider an unquestionable crime against humanity. However, in the American abolition and Civil Rights Movement, black people faced Hitler-esque brutality from slave owners and later groups like the KKK, who routinely terrorized, lynched and burned the bodies of innocent black people. Black folks also combatted institutionalized hate from their own government who passed laws legalizing their oppression. It would not have been difficult to make a case justifying black americans’ rights to employ the use of violence in fighting for freedom. Apart from faith, I believe we would have been and still are justified in that choice. However, as a follower of Jesus, I cannot hold that position. If there was ever a situation in which the use of violence was just, it would be when soldiers came to arrest Jesus, a man who Christians believe did no wrong in his entire life. Yet, when Christ’s disciple drew his weapon to prevent Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, Christ said, “put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword (Matthew 26:52)”. If the sinless Jesus would not allow his disciple to use violence to prevent his own unjust murder, how can modern disciples of Christ justify killing in any context? Jesus did not stop his disciple simply because crucifixion was his personal destiny. If that were the case, he would not have taken the extra step to explain the principle, “all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” That is a, timeless, universal truth. This truth was understood by Martin Luther King after studying the lives and teachings of Jesus and Gandhi. This is the foundation on which he and other black leaders built their principally non-violent expression of the Civil Rights Movement. Some consider nonviolent resistance weak, ineffective, lacking power or courage to fight for justice by any means necessary, yet during the Civil Rights Movement, the nonviolent expression of resistance accomplished more than any movement which was not principally nonviolent. King explains how he came to believe not only in the goodness, but the power of a nonviolent approach...
"As I delved deeper into the philosophy of Gandhi, my skepticism concerning the power of love gradually diminished, and I came to see for the first time its potency in the area of social reform. Prior to reading Gandhi, I had about concluded that the ethics of Jesus were only effective in individual relationships, The 'turn the other cheek' philosophy and the 'love your enemies' philosophy were only valid, I felt, when individuals were in conflict with other individuals; when racial groups and nations were in conflict, a more realistic approach seemed necessary. But after reading Gandhi, I saw how utterly mistaken I was. Gandhi was probably the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals to a powerful and effective social force on a large scale. Love for Gandhi was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking for so many months...I came to feel that this was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom" (King, Stride Toward Freedom p 96-97).
King realized that Gandhi’s Christ-inspired philosophies were not only good in theory, but they actually worked! Gandhi was able to help India shake the shackles of violent British colonialism without using violence. Non violence was proven to be powerful. If it worked for India, why couldn’t it work for black folks in America? Upon this realization, King lived by the words of Christ, “for all who take the sword shall perish by the sword.” This lead to King famously proclaiming “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that!” These truths inspired the chorus of “Just War Theory”, “ Live by the sword, die by the sword...” Just like hate cannot drive out hate, you cannot attempt to make peace by waging war. “Say you want peace but forever make war.” What if nations were committed to the nonviolence of Jesus, Gandhi and King? What if, for example, during WWII, instead of sending hundreds of thousands of weaponized soldiers, the allied forces send hundreds of thousands of nonviolent protesters, community organizers, and peacemakers armed with love, creative strategies and demonstrations. I know this may sound naive and farfetched to some, but it has never even been attempted on a scale that big, so we cannot say it would not work. However when this was employed on a smaller but still significant scale within India and America, it was unquestionably powerful and effective. If nations combated injustice like this, I’m sure some lives would be lost, but many lives are guaranteed to be lost when violence is met with violence. We simply don’t know what would happen if America had a nonviolent foreign policy, but I believe it is high time we evolve beyond Teddy Roosevelt's “Speak softly and carry a big stick” approach to alleged peacemaking among nations.
Would you die for what you believed at 18?
Do you trust your teenage perception of complexities
Of self
Of God
Of Good and evil
Right and wrong
Truth
Love
Global Economy
Foreign Relations
Just War Theory
Did you even know what those terms meant back then?
Armed forces recruits youth to fight wars of cowardly men
Three years too young to be trusted with a margarita
but Uncle Sam handin’ teenagers guns
Children deployed to front lines
at the command of a commander in chief
they were too young to vote for
Killin’ poor folk they do not know
over conflicts they do not understand
Even if I were to accept the possibility of war being justified in certain contexts, I will never support the age at which Americans are able to join the military. We live in a nation that does not even trust teenagers with a cocktail, and yet we will allow them to go to war, risk their life and take the lives of others. I would challenge every adult I know over the age of 25 with a simple question, “would you die for what you believed at 18?” For the vast majority of us, the answer would be an enthusiastic “NO WAY!” In American culture, 18 year olds have very little understanding of global conflicts. In fact, 18 year olds have very little understanding of themselves. I am known by most as a spoken word poet, but I didn’t write my first spoken word poem until I was 20 years old, and even then, poetry was just a hobby for me. One of my deepest passions and greatest skills was not even a part of my life at 18. I, like most Americans, was still in the process of discovering my own personality, skills and beliefs. Hills I would have died on back then are not even moderately important to me anymore. It is incredibly irresponsible for a government to send teenagers to war. If war is to be waged, it must be fought by those with a mature awareness of themselves, and a thorough as possible education of the conflict they will participate in.
And when they die
we thank them for their service
Drape patriotism over their casket
and claim they sacrificed for freedom’s sake
I for one am not grateful
I grieve for the loss of life
But they ain’t die for my freedom
If you die for America, you die for a nation
that still treats me sub-human
Many Americans believe that all soldiers are heroes merely based on the fact that they served in the American military. This idea assumes the U.S. military is always justified in its actions. It assumes every conflict we enter is absolutely necessary and our motives are always pure. If a soldier dies in battle, they are considered a hero who paid the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom. But what if you die in a pointless war? What if history proves there was no clear good and evil side, no clear winner. Are you still a hero if you fought and killed in a war without purpose or victory? Also, if you die in the name of a nation that perpetuates injustice against its own citizens, how are you defending freedom? How is your sacrifice heroic? In fact, you might be empowering a government that is stripping people of freedom. When Muhammad Ali was drafted into the military, he refused to enlist, choosing rather to go to jail than participate in the Vietnam War. Ali did not agree with America’s participation in what he considered an unjust war, but also, he pointed out the hypocrisy of a nation that would require him to fight and possibly die for America, when America treated black people and Muslims (him being both), with such little dignity.
“My conscience won’t let me shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger. They never lynched me, they never put no dogs on me. The never robbed me of my nationality. Raped and killed my mother and father.”
In another interview he explained “ I’m not gon’ help nobody get something the negroes don’t have. If I’m gon’ die, I’ll die now, right here fighting you. You my enemy. My enemies are white people, not Viet Congs or Chinese or Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. You won’t even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs, and you want me to go somewhere and fight, but you won’t even stand up for me here at home.”
Fallen soldiers are victims, not heroes
Victims of a government that sends their young and poor to early graves
All because old men are stuck in their ways
Willing to sacrifice other people’s lives to
maintain power and privilege
I am fully aware that many Americans have a deep respect for the military, having family members and significant others who have fought, died, were severely injured, or mentally scarred in combat. I want to be sensitive to their painful realities while at the same time calling out comforting but untrue cultural myths. I am not attacking soldiers who have already suffered, I am honoring them by speaking out against a government and cultural myths that lead to unnecessary pain or death for so many American soldiers and citizens of other nations. U.S. soldiers are victims of an overly militant nation who values power over the lives of its own. The American military unashamedly targets the young and the poor. To the young, they sell the idea of participating in something noble and heroic. With slogans like “the few, the proud, the mighty,” the military lures American youth with promises of a purposeful life. Everyone wants to do something great with their life. The sharpness of uniformed marines, the awe-inspiring commercials filled with fighter planes in formation and so on, is alluring to young people on a quest for adventure and meaning in life. Impoverished young Americans are targeted and recruited with promises of acquiring wealth and education. For kids whose families cannot afford college, or those who received a poor education due to their neighborhood, the military will lure them in with promises of a full-time salary and benefits, or the possibility of their college being paid for by the military. None of these promises matter if you die in combat. You must be alive to enjoy your wealth or utilize your college education. Even if you survive a war, many combat veterans are unable to successfully reintegrate into civilian life. The trauma of war is something no human should endure. Even if one believes war, in certain contexts, is justified, that does not stop the irreversible negative effects of combat. Soldiers who believed they fought for a just cause are still haunted by memories of watching their friends die. They are still often burdened with guilt of having taken human life. Many of them are sensitive to every clap and crashing sound, struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for the rest of their lives. Of course, if you suffer so much, it is comforting to believe it was for a good reason, but often these conflicts simply protect the interests of those already in power. Most wars do not improve the lives or defend the freedom of the young and poor. Most wars protect the power and wealth of already privileged people. Privileged and powerful people are the ones with the ability to make war, thus, they make it primarily when they feel threatened. It is easy for them to do so, since they are seldom the ones actually fighting. They are “willing to sacrifice other people’s lives to maintain power and privilege.”
Running to war as a first resort
Not creative enough to dream up other forms of conflict resolution
Unless of course THEY are the terrorists
The White knights lynching the innocent
Police brutalizing the citizens
Then they prefer peaceful protest
Then they believe nonviolent resistance to evil is effective
War is not talked about as a necessary evil which must be avoided at all costs, it is glorified and celebrated in American culture. When the World Trade Center towers in New York City were destroyed by terrorists on September 11, 2001, both the American government and many American people immediately thought of violent retaliation. No alternative course of action was seriously considered. We didn’t even know who the enemy was, yet war was the answer. There was even a popular country song written only months later that celebrated this war-enthusiast mentality. Toby Keith sang,
"Now this nation that I love has fallen under attack. A mighty sucker punch came flyin' in from somewhere in the back. Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye man we lit up your world like the fourth of July... Justice will be served and the battle will rage
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage and you'll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A. 'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass, It's the American way. Well Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist And the eagle will fly, and it’s gonna be hell When you hear mother freedom start ringing her bell And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you Oh, brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue"
When it comes to international conflict, America will not hesitate to “put a boot in your ass” in the name of so-called justice. In this way of thinking, violence is justified and celebrated by the American government, especially when it is committed in response to a great injustice or act of terror.... “unless of course, they are the terrorists”. The same nation and government that cheers for violent retaliation to certain injustices, strongly rebukes and disdains any oppressed minority group within America that protests violently, and even nonviolently. Hypocrisy and racism is the only explanation for the disgust, resentment and hate directed towards people groups longing for equality, willing to violently rebel for it. White people however, are allowed to be violent. There is nothing but positive sentiments towards white american colonists who rebelled against their own government. Those who fought in the Revolutionary War are considered heroes in America, but minorities who show even the slightest amount of anger at their government for being oppressive are considered people of low morality, uncivilized and unamerican. For minorities, peaceful protest is the only justifiable form of protest, but even that will get you despised in America. Colin Kaepernick for example has had his character attacked and life threatened for non-violently protesting police brutality and institutional racism.
Sometimes I wonder if these wars were domestic
Would they think twice about bombing enemy lairs in residential areas
in Beverly Hills, in Time Square?
If civilian casualties were their own wives and children would they
be eager to wage warfare?
Would they get better at diplomacy?
Learn how to compromise?
De-escalate tensions?
America has been at war in the middle east for decades. Our presence there has destroyed so many communities and taken so many civilian lives. But since this devastation is taking place on the other side of the world, it doesn’t feel like a tragic reality. Imagine if violence with death tolls similar to September 11th happened with regularity across America. Would people be calling for more war as their neighbors and friends and lovers and children routinely lost limbs and lives? If American military activities took place on american soil, I don’t think the people or the politicians of America would be so comfortable with the amount of civilian lives lost. Rapper Lupe Fiasco once got criticized for calling President Obama a terrorist or ordering drone strikes in the middle east. Lupe responded in his song “Ital” by rapping
"Called the president a terrorist
Corporate sponsors like, how the fuck you gon' embarrass us?
Ain't my fault, I was just repeatin' this
Professor Emeritus from America
But my tone was like an Afghani kid without a home
Blew that bitch up with a drone
An Iraqi with no daddy, Palestinian throwing stones
The fuck you think they call him? I'mma leave that all alone."
The heroic nature of America’s military endeavors likely do not seem so heroic from the perspective of middle eastern civilians whose communities have been routinely destroyed. We must learn to fight terror and injustice with something other than violence. Sadly, violence has been the American way for far too long on both sides of the political divide. Lupe Fiasco criticized violence under the leadership of Obama, and now with Trump in office, violence has been threatened and delivered with pride. The threat of nuclear war is being tossed around with carelessness on Trump’s twitter account while he has ordered tomahawk missiles and other violent actions to be used in various foreign conflicts. Again, even to one who believes in the possibility of just war, I would strongly discourage anyone from joining the military while the commander in chief is trigger happy and irresponsible with the lives of soldiers and citizens.
Learn to fight fire with water
War with peace
Stop spending billions on defense
And pour resource into foreign aid
education and disaster relief
Make friends out of would-be enemies
Fight evil with poetry
Appoint Rappers as foreign ambassadors
‘Cause hip hop already united the atlas
Middle-eastern kids bumpin’ Chance and Kendrick
There is another way
War is an endless cycle with no winners. Humanity always loses. There are way to both prevent and respond to violence that foster diplomacy and peace. We must learn to stop fighting fire with fire and get creative with conflict resolution.
No disrespect to vets with post-traumatic stress
or soldiers who lost their life
But no one is a hero just ‘cause they fight
I am not grateful your service
I don’t know what you did on tour
Even aside from possible war crimes
I’m not sure if I believe in this war
But I am grateful you made it back alive
I do pray you find peace for your war-torn mind
I do pray you put down your weapon and realize
You can fight for freedom without killing for it
You can die for freedom without killing for it
That’s the only kind of freedom worth fighting for
Worth dying for
Worth living for
But if you live by the sword…
I wanted to end the song by reiterating my sympathies for those who have suffered in war as soldiers. I do say suffered and not sacrificed, because sacrificed implies a worthy cause. There are few conflicts America has been involved in that one can even make a solid argument defending the military action. My prayer is for healing of mind, body, and souls of soldiers who fell victim to a pro-war culture. Ironically, the same culture that encourages soldiers to enlist often has very little sympathy for them when they are no longer soldiers. In Season 1 of “Humans of New York: The Series”, the episode entitled “Help” features an interview with a wounded veteran with a cardboard sign. The man expresses frustrations with the American public who seems so ungrateful for his sacrifice.
“They walk around right now, so softly, laughing. You know, giggling, looking at me as if I’m nothing. But they don’t realize that the ability that they have to walk around, I gave a knee and an ankle for. You know what I’m saying? I gave a hand for their ability to look at me and call me a bum. Or look at me and think that I don’t work because I don’t want to. So that’s the cost I paid. I paid with my body. I paid with my heart. I paid with my time for people that really don’t even appreciate it. That’s my biggest struggle.”
This American veteran is struggling to come to terms with the fact that he was lied to. He was told he could become a hero, but even pro-war Americans only consider soldiers heroes in theory. Where is the hero’s welcome for the homeless veteran with missing body parts? This particular individual thought he was fighting for the freedom of all Americans, and thus believes he is being wronged when the
American public does not appreciate him or sympathize with his predicament. The reality is, soldiers fight for the interests of a few privileged people, and when they are no longer able to fight, they are considered disposable by the same government that wooed them to war. America has no guilty conscience about the scores of veterans holding cardboard signs on street corners across the nation. A nation addicted to war does not only destroy its enemies, it destroys itself. It destroys its conscience, it destroys its ability to empathize with any human life; friend, foe, even its own soldiers and citizens. For individuals and nations alike, the words of Christ ring true, “all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”
Live by the sword
Die by the sword
Say you want peace
But forever make war
Freedom ain’t free
Better aim for the core
But freedom ain’t freedom
If you killin’ the poor (3x)
Grace and Peace,
Micah
