The War Prayer
by Mark Twain
“One man’s terrorist is another
man’s freedom fighter”. This is the
quote that came to mind after reading “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain. It is a very short perusal. Mark Twain’s profundity and beliefs are very
evident in this composition. It is very
simply written and easy to read.
There are two sides of life. This writing is divided into (2) parts. I had no idea what this writing was about,
however as I read the first part of the piece, I thought about the thin veneer
of life; the appearance of things. The
way things seem to be on the surface.
The way things are presented. The
efforts made to hide the truth, and the often inaccessibility of reality.
The community of people in this work
is at war. They are sending their sons
and fathers off to war. There is a lot
of patriotic zeal and, oddly enough, a lot of praying to God for divine
protection and victory in fighting this war.
The protagonist of this work enters at the height of the community’s
zealousness. He proclaims to be a
messenger of God, who will deliver and explain God’s answer to their
prayers. The messenger explains that
their prayers for protection, guidance and victory are simultaneously prayers
for destruction, violence and persecution against the people they are
fighting. There can only be one conqueror
in a fight. One alleged victor. If you are praying to win, you are also
praying to annihilate your opponent.
Another creation of the God you serve.
The simplicity of this piece speaks
to its timelessness. The absence of geographic
descriptions, dates, names, the name of the war, allows it to be transposed
over any time period or place. I
naturally compared it to the current wars that America is engaged in with
Afghanistan and Syria, and the previous wars with Iraq and Libya, and the call
to defend America during the 9/11 incident.
This discourse, with its practical
and subtle ending, reinforces the profound blindness of “patriotism”. Like most of those who deliver calls to
reason in a community drunk on patriotism, the messenger was branded a lunatic
by a community puzzled by his message.
Published:
http://opencaravan.com/2013/07/25/throwback-thursday-recommended-reading-the-war-prayer/
Published:
http://opencaravan.com/2013/07/25/throwback-thursday-recommended-reading-the-war-prayer/
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