Son, Have You Seen The World?

I've blogged a few times about songs from the artist Rise Against.  I'm about to do so again.

I haven't listened to them tons lately, but there's a new dishwasher at work and he likes them a lot.  So I was sitting there, working, this afternoon, when a song came on that I've heard before.

However, I recently really heard it for the first time, just a few weeks ago.

It's called Hero Of War.

I debated for a long time about whether to post the lyrics, as they contain some foul language and descriptions of violence.. however, it didn't feel right just to describe the situations to you.  It would water it down.  Therefore, if you have a minor around that likes to read over your shoulder (I was one of those) and you don't want them reading this.. send them away now.

Rise Against - Hero Of War

He said "Son, have you seen the world?

Well, what would you say if I said that you could?
Just carry this gun and you'll even get paid."
I said "That sounds pretty good."
Black leather boots
Spit-shined so bright
They cut off my hair but it looked alright
We marched and we sang
We all became friends
As we learned how to fight


A hero of war
Yeah that's what I'll be
And when I come home
They'll be damn proud of me
I'll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because it's a flag that I love
And a flag that I trust


I kicked in the door
I yelled my commands
The children, they cried
But I got my man
We took him away
A bag over his face
From his family and his friends


They took off his clothes
They pissed in his hands
I told them to stop
But then I joined in
We beat him with guns
And batons not just once
But again and again


A hero of war
Yeah that's what I'll be
And when I come home
They'll be damn proud of me
I'll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because it's a flag that I love
And a flag that I trust


She walked through bullets and haze
I asked her to stop
I begged her to stay
But she pressed on
So I lifted my gun
And I fired away


The shells jumped through the smoke
And into the sand
That the blood now had soaked
She collapsed with a flag in her hand
A flag white as snow


A hero of war
Is that what they see
Just medals and scars
So damn proud of me
And I brought home that flag
Now it gathers dust
But it's a flag that I love
It's the only flag I trust


He said, "Son, have you seen the world?
Well what would you say, if I said that you could?"

Last night I finished the book A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy, by Thomas Buergenthal.  At the end of the book, the question that burns for him is why.  Not "Why did this happen?", but "Why did some lose their moral compass while others died standing for what they believed?"

Those are both great questions, but I think the second one is much more poignant.  Asking why something happened questions the idea of fate - "Why did God allow this?", but conversely asking why someone would descend to a level where they treat other humans as dispensable puts the question not on God, but on ourselves.  Why we allow ourselves to choose things we know to be morally wrong.

The same thing occurs in the song I posted above.  The singer describes going to war and making decisions that devalue human life and our unalienable rights ("We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." - USA Founding Fathers).

The question he asks is not why did this happen or why did I allow it, but something even greater - why am I hiding it?  Every man, woman and child desires to conceal the things they've done wrong.  It's ingrained in our blood from Adam and Eve, hiding in the Garden after they sinned.  In the song, the artist paints a picture of coming home and being hailed as a "hero of war", but in his heart and his head, he's saying, "You have no idea what I've done.. all you see are the pictures we choose to send over.  I am not the person you think I am.  I am no more a hero than you; in fact, I am less."

I think those are two questions we ought to be asking ourselves about all the choices we make, and actions we take, in our lives.  Firstly, are we holding true to our moral standards; respecting others and ourselves?  If not, why?  Are we afraid of something or someone, trying to earn recognition, trying to survive, to get that one more bit of moldy black bread as if we were a starving Jew in a Nazi camp? 

When the day comes and we do make mistakes, why do we let people believe what they want to believe?  Maybe it does less harm.. but really, does it?  Are you willing to hold in your wretched secrets to allow others to think you're a hero of war, when you just effectively lied to your boss about a job you didn't get done, because he believes it was someone else's fault and you didn't tell him?  What happens if they ever find out.. wouldn't you rather it was from yourself and not a third party? 

Really.  Why do we do the things we do?  Honesty rarely gets people raises, but it garnishes respect and trust.  To let others down is also to let ourselves down - they may forget, but we cannot.  We reap what we sow.

What's more valuable to you?