Nothing stirs the bowels of discontent like a good old-fashioned forced military draft. Warnings have abounded both in print and upon our screens for I don’t know how many months. As the federal government has continued, validated, and expanded unconstitutional acts in the form of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, much of our citizenry have at most just blinked and commented passively the verbal token, “No Kings.”
Hate to tell you folks, but when executive leadership can snatch you up and throw you into a war, you’ve got yourself a king. When it was Trump’s “bad hombres,” our communities had forgotten that when tyrants come after some of you, they eventually come after all of you. ‘Tis such a shame when people forget the evils of history. Boomaranged again into a situation where there’s a war elsewhere we must fight to defend our way of life, now its at the behest of someone who many of us believe to be a war criminal. I’m referring to Benjamin Netanyahu, of course.
Though comical to some, I could have been referring to Donald Trump or Volodymr Zelenskeyy and not have been too far off.
What the heck is a war criminal, anyway? In our ever-peaceful niche of western Massachusetts, the proposition of waging any war at all is typically spoken of as an evil enterprise. Therefore, we would first have to establish that there’s those out in the world who view war as something both legal, and oftentimes, when mixed with the right ideology, something irreplaceable to one’s way of life. It is perhaps this ideology which has pervaded our ruling systems of government. As one who cheats in a romantic relationship first is oft the first to point the finger, so do those who rule our nations carelessly shoot these words in others directions, never without four fingers pointing back at themselves.
Recently while strolling the streets with my oldest daughter, I was asked the question, “why are all of these protesters old people?” Knowing the offense it would carry to those within our vicinity, I quickly responded that these smiling, guitar-playin’ locals are from a generation who honestly believed that these sorts of actions would prevent even the remote possibility of war crimes being perpetrated while they existed on earth. This was no question of “age” I explained to her, this was a matter of “ideology.”
We’ve inherited the memory of Woodstock and “Free Love” with an ever-growing military-making machine. In conversations with people all over this region, the pervading sentiment is that even though our nation is most likely fighting illegal wars, there’s really nothing one can do about it other than cast a vote. Oh, my beautiful lovers of democracy.
Liberty for the cost of freedom; our sons best soon recognize the realities of the upcoming situation with eyes free of intoxication. Forget about money for college and an enchanted trip to the South Pacific, your four-year plans might more likely include what has befallen many of our other veterans the past 50 years. Namely: abandonment, alcoholism, and atrophy.
Maybe I write these things because I’m more American than I should be. True, I’ve had “unpatriotic” thrown in my face before, but one’s written protests and dedication to rule under the people’s law seem at heart to be the most “American” thing I can do under the circumstances. Well… perhaps that’s not true.
Upcoming in October is the 5th Pan American Kungfu & Taijiquan Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Having qualified for the U.S. national team back in November, I go with the hopes of demonstrating what I’ve dedicated myself to these past three years. Immediately following this competition, I will be attending book signings in various bookstores around Beirut, Lebanon as part of the Beirut Book Fair. My most recent publication, “The Coyote and the Cougar: A New England Memoir,” wasn’t just meant for the local audience; wherein the full earnings of this work are to be donated to the Lebanon branch of the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Not too often a person gets to form a square with situations in their lives. Ever reminded of the triangle of forced self-interest, we often miss the value of stability and strength with seeking fair deals with our outside world. Much as one butterfly’s wings waft the connectivity of us all, so too does each of our voices echo the fabric of our collective being. The power that comes with voice, is the power to move mountains. Let us all speak.
Ahmad Esfahani lives in Greenfield.