Today is Memorial Day in the US, a national holiday to remember those people who have died fighting in wars for America.  For me, it is a day to pay respect to individuals while also remembering the inherent evils of war.  I do not assume that the individuals who fought in wars were responsible for the evils that any war creates.  There are many reasons for fighting, some honorable, and we should presume the best intentions on the part of the individual fighters.  But we should not forget the ways in which war can be both inhumane and futile.

     I know there may be counterexamples of relatively good wars.  Everyone’s favorite, of course, is WWII.  Yes, fighting the Nazis was necessary and honorable.  But most wars are not necessary.  Vietnam, Iraq, WWI, each in their own way was (is) unnecessary.  And much of the killing that happened, and is happening, in these conflicts, is futile and inhumane.  I will not lay blame on the individual combatants for the larger abuses of war (except for such obvious crimes as Haditha): they may have joined for good reasons and then had to fight their way out of dire circumstances. 

    What we must be alert to is the manipulation of war by political leaders, the political uses of war, the appeal to patriotism to unite a populace in killing that serves little or no broader national interest.  War should truly be the last resort.  The appeal to fight for your country should be invoked only when there is no real choice but to fight.  To do otherwise is to betray the honorable impulses of those individuals who answer the call, and who bear the ultimate sacrifices. 

     The Tao Te Ching has something to say on this score:

If you use the Way to help a ruler of people
you never use weapons to coerce all beneath heaven.
Such things always turn against you:

fields where soldiers camp
turn to thorn and bramble,
and vast armies on the march
leave years of misery behind.

The noble prevail if they must, then stop:
they never press on to coerce the world.

Prevail, but never presume.
Prevail, but never boast.
Prevail, but never exult.
Prevail, but never when there’s another way.
That is to prevail without coercing.

Thing grown strong soon grow old.
This is called losing the Way:
Lose the Way and you die young.

Passage 30

Notice that this passage assumes that there may be times when war fighting is inevitable.  Although Taoism is generally pacifist, it recognizes, in this passage especially, that, at times, one must fight and, even, prevail.  But it is very cautious: Prevail, but never when there’s another way.   Passage 31 also is a commentary on war:

Auspicious weapons are the tools of misfortune.
Things may not all despise such tools,
but a master of Way stays clear of them.

The noble-minded treasure the left when home
and the right when taking up weapons of war.

Weapons are tools of misfortune,
not tools of the noble-minded.
When there’s no other way,
they take up weapons with tranquil calm,
finding no glory in victory.

To find glory in victory
is to savor killing people,
and if you savor killing people
you’ll never guide all beneath heaven.

We honor the left in celebrations
and honor the right in lamentations,
so captains stand on the left
and generals on the right.
But use them both as if conducting a funeral:

when so many people are being killed
it should be done with tears and mourning.
And victory too should be conducted like a funeral.

 (Translation note: the left/right imagery describes how war disrupts the conventional practice of ritual, which usually tells us to seat the guest of honor on the left).

    The thing that strikes me about this passage is the notion of no glory in victory.  Perhaps that is how we should approach Memorial Day: we should not seek to couch personal sacrifice in terms of national glory, but, rather, recognize each fallen soldier as an individual who was trying to do the right thing and lost his or her life in doing it.