War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

"War is a force that gives us meaning." This is the title of a book written by Chris Hedges that chronicles his experience as a journalist and war correspondent throughout decades and multiple American engagements. "War is a force that gives us meaning." The title itself captures so well the tendency of human nature to attach (on an emotional, pre-political level) to a fight. We take on a battle and it becomes a part of who and what we are - it becomes a part of our identity. "War is a force that gives us meaning." And that meaning is a very powerful psychological force, so that when something contradictory comes along, some new information that might question the validity of the battle, it also questions the self-understanding and purpose of the warrior. New information becomes a threat to the ego, and that brings forth all sorts of ego protection mechanisms and rationalizations. Make no mistake, we find meaning in the battle, and when we do, it takes much more than just the facts to move us away from the psychology of war.

In my work with a Texas charter school founded by Turkish immigrants, I found new meaning in Hedges' assertion.Two weeks after we opened a new campus in Dallas, the Harmony School of Nature and Athletics, I had a father request a meeting to discuss concerns. Though he had been very excited to get his children enrolled and was having such a great experience at the school, he was shell shocked by his preacher's public, congregational prayer at Wednesday night service the evening before. The preacher announced, "Dear God, please save us all from the homosexuals working to destroy our youth, and please save us from those Muslims down the street trying to convert all our children to Islam." The pastor was referring to our new campus. Two weeks later, a drunk and belligerent man entered the school in his pajamas, smelling of liquor, and demanding to see the mosque. And adding to these too-close-to-home encounters, there is a growing trail of blogs bearing accusations that include hidden mosques where the children are taken to be converted, textbooks that teach Islam, and ties to Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Imam and political lightening rod in Turkey (and now in America).

I am an educator! I firmly believe in the power of education to change minds and hearts and lives. There is a parent-organized website that addresses accusations from an insider point of view. But I'm personally less concerned with proving each accusation wrong. I see them for what they are - war is a force that gives us meaning. I'm more interested in educating individuals and groups so that they understand and recognize bigotry (being "intolerantly devoted to [one's] own opinions and prejudices"); so that stereotypes are seen as a tool of those who shy away from complexity, and a mark of those most unaware of their own interior, psychological motivations. One pastor prays "save us from the homosexuals," believing his brand of Christianity to be the "Truth" with a capital "T," while just down the street is a homosexual bishop and "open" congregation. My point isn't to say one is right and one is wrong. I leave that to the theologians. My point is to say that neither believes the other has a monopoly on what it means to be Christian - my point is that complexity exists, and to characterize all Christians as homophobes would be an erroneous stereotype. Christianity embodies a spectrum or kaleidoscope of beliefs that make it almost impossible to nail down any definition of Christianity that fits every group calling themselves Christian. The same is true for Islam, though so much thinking about the Muslim religion (at least in America) is seen through the lens of a post 9-11, pre-political, fear-based monocle. Those most afraid of Islam don't know any Muslims. Some Muslims wear the burqa. Others don westernized dress. Some see Jihad as a religio-political struggle, while others see it as a spiritual battle within. Some are Sufi mystics while others are literalists. There is complexity, a spectrum of beliefs that prohibits stereotypes and over generalizations. It's no different than our American history complete with some so-called Christians who joined the Ku Klux Klan while others joined the Underground Railroad, Quakers, and Abolitionist movements.

Of course, this fact is completely neglected by the right-wing bloggers who play Six degrees of Kevin Bacon with Harmony Schools, and who play into people's fears rather than promoting knowledge. To them, all Muslims are terrorists, and all who support the Harmony School system support terrorism (hence they claim the grants given by Bill and Melinda Gates and Wal-Mart are evidence of their support of terrorism). But we shouldn't be surprised. We know the world is replete with bigotry and that entire political agendas gain momentum by tapping into people's fears and the power of stereotypes (e.g. the so-called "Final Solution".) It's nothing new. We know by now that war is a force that gives us meaning.