Photo: Private Jessica Blackburn
This is my last transmission with the Courier. I am posted away from Cold Lake with mixed feelings. We will miss the beautiful summers and beaches, and even moreso the friends and neighbours that have made this place home quickly and fastly. But of course, it will be good to be closer to ‘down home’ (the Maritimes), and the journey is always a new adventure.
I have written here about how a person of faith, or a person of morals, can fight in war. As a final thought, I would like to leave you with Jesus’ teaching, to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. This may seem counter-intuitive for a soldier, possibly counter-productive. The more jaded among us might think it is a luxury for the naïve. Nevertheless, I believe it is the most important virtue a soldier can have, both in the conduct of war and in the aftermath of living with oneself.
Lt. Col. Grossman, in his influential book On Killing, notes the influence of ‘distance’ on the ability to kill the enemy. The closer we are to the target, the harder it is psychologically to take their life. Physical distance, yes, but also emotional distance: for example, it is easier to kill someone of a different culture or ethnicity or social status. He also points out that we can develop ‘moral distance’ by justifying our cause as righteous and condemning the enemy’s as evil.[1]
The conventional wisdom is that it is easier for our soldier to kill if we dehumanize the enemy. If we teach soldiers to respect their enemies and treat them as equals, it may lead them to hesitate at a critical moment. Basically, it is easier to kill someone you hate than someone you love. This may be true in the purely mechanical sense, and in a very temporary sense. In the long term, however, it comes back to haunt you. Eventually, it will hit you that the dehumanized were human after all, just like you.
But what if you were fighting for a just cause and you loved your enemy? What if you believed their cause was evil, or wrong, or mistaken, but you did not hate or dehumanize them because of it? That is what Jesus’ words mean. In fact, he explains them like this: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For [God] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? …And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? …You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
If someone you loved was about to commit a terrible crime against someone else you love, would you not want to stop them? You can see the rage in their eyes, there is a gun in their hand, they are determined to kill, but without (sufficient) cause. If it is someone you hate, you don’t waste your time – you ‘neutralize the threat’ without remorse. But if it is someone you love, you try to use reason first, and violence as a last resort. You use the minimal force necessary to disarm them if it is possible. In the end, if you had to use violence, you know that it was truly a last resort, and your conscience is clear. Basically, all the principles of Just War come naturally if we love our enemy.
In my tradition, we recognize that loving our enemy is hard, if not impossible on our own strength. But we are strengthened by the realization that God loves us when we are His enemies. He does not desire our destruction, but our peaceful surrender. He offers amnesty for our past aggressions, paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ His son.
[1] Grossman, Lt. Col. Dave, On Killing: the Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Bay Back Books, New York, 2009, pp. 157-170.