The Ships Project/Why We Fight

2008-12-09T20:56:25Z

The 2005 film “Why We Fight” documents the rise in warmongering since America became an armamentor after WW2. It centers on Eisenhower’s farewell address, where he warns us against the growing military industrial complex, and the potential for abuses of power from that sector, then tells how that warning has come to fruition. We no longer send our soldiers to fight for principles; we send them to fight for, and because of, money. We must invent reasons to go to war in order to justify our ever increasing defense spending, which drives the technology sector. Through our military presence worldwide, we have become economic colonialists, bringing “free trade” and “democracy” to the world in the guise of improved economic conditions. The individual soldiers are still being sold the bill of goods that they are fighting, or serving, for principles, but the volunteer armed services system has ensured that only the economically disadvantaged actually serve. Traditionally the merchant marine has attracted young men with no money and fewer prospects to risk their lives for the property of others; today’s navy is no different, except that literally none of the young men who sign up will ever make their fortune in the navy.

I wonder how much of the infrastructure our new administration will really be able to change in four years that will encourage us to give him another four. Many of the fundamental changes that need to be made to bring American back into the realm of integrity will cause dramatic economic hardships to much of America through lost jobs. The last time we faced a crisis of these proportions, we voted for 16 years of leadership to guide us through a prolonged struggle. Can anyone accomplish anything like it in eight? Will American continue to choose to go down in a blaze of glory rather than make the sacrifices necessary to stay the course and rebuild from where we are now?

The Ships Project sends hand-knitted items to service people serving worldwide. Their hats, in particular, have become popular and sought-after items on ships serving in the Gulf. Not only do they keep the ears warm, but they reassure those serving that there are Americans at home who care that their ears are warm. While I am in no way ambivalent about the wars the US is currently engaged in, my feelings about the soldiers are more… slippery. I grew up in a military family. Every man in my family until the current generation served at least one tour, always as a mechanism for improving their life circumstances, obtaining the opportunity for a college education, and providing for their families. Many of the soldiers in today’s all-volunteer military joined up for the same reasons, only to be caught in a never-ending cycle of extensions for a war that was largely unforeseen at the time they joined up. I’m sure many of them, faced with the alternative of poverty stateside, would have, or have, joined up despite ambivalent or negative personal feelings about this conflict. This has been true for as long as men have left home to seek their fortune because “home” held no opportunities for them. Can a cycle that has been repeating since antiquity be broken? If not, is it the most I can do to help keep those ears warm?

The Mother Bear Project

2008-12-09T20:29:50Z

The Mother Bear Project sends hand knit bears for distribution (often by missionary groups or the Peace Corps) to children with HIV/AIDS in several African countries. While I have reservations about supporting church sponsored missionary efforts, it’s hard to deny the value of providing a toy to a sick child who probably has very few. What is truly sobering is the evidence that the West is largely responsible for the spread of HIV throughout the African continent. Needles used to vaccinate children against other diseases through various developmental aid plans are scarce, and so often reused – thus saving them from smallpox, for example, while spreading the HIV virus. I first heard about this from a friend who was doing volunteer work through Doctors Without Borders while in medical school in the 1990’s, and subsequent media attention revealed that something like 40% of HIV transmission in Africa is a result of these practices. In 2004, several Bulgarian health workers were convicted of deliberately spreading the virus in this manner. Read more about that at http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=9547.

America has largely forgotten about HIV/AIDS since the introduction of antiretroviral cocktails. Americans with HIV can now live long healthy lives without displaying evidence of Kaposi’s Sarcoma or Wasting Syndrome; Pneumocystis rates have declined sharply and is largely treatable. Among young Americans, in particular, there is a perception that it is no longer a public health danger, and the current state of sex education in the schools does little to dispel that notion except to preach abstinence. Worldwide statistics are another matter. (for information on this, see aidsinfonet.org) When I think about the sorrow and grief suffered by those who believed they were vaccinating their children to save them, and instead must now watch them die, it breaks my heart – and putting a little bear in the hands of one of those children seems like the least I can do, First World as that response may be.

ardentknitter

The Ships Project/Why We Fight

The Mother Bear Project