Witness—"Bombs Bursting in Air"

“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”

                                      -Elie Weisel, Nobel Peace Prize 1986, Author, Holocaust survivor

“America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”          -Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran

This past fourth of July our national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, was sung at ballgames, parades, and celebrations for the birth of our nation. The anthem was conceived in conflict as Francis Scott Key watched the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the war of 1812.

Today we find ourselves still looking to “bombs bursting in air” as a way to settle conflict and project dominance over other people.

In June the president of the United States called off a military strike on Iran with 10 minutes to spare because a general told him that at least 150 people would die. Do we need more dead bodies as a way to solve problems or can we look to diplomacy and peaceful negotiation as a means toward a more humane path?

The Consequences of War:

• America has been at war 222 out of the 243 years since 1776.

• More than 1.1 million Americans have been killed in US-involved wars.

• American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)—4,435 deaths

• US—Civil War—(1861-1865)—620,000 deaths

• WWI—(1914-1918)—20 million deaths (military and civilian)

• WWII—(1939-1945)—70-85 million deaths (military and civilian) (3% of the world’s population)

• Korean War—(1950-1953)—5 million deaths (military and civilian)

• Vietnam War—(1954-1975)—58,200 (US military deaths), 3.2 million South and North Vietnamese deaths (military and civilian)

• War on Terror (2001-2019)— Iraq (295,000 deaths), Afghanistan (147,000 deaths), Pakistan (65,000 deaths), and Syria (560,000 deaths)—[figures include military and civilian deaths]

 Statistics: US Department of Veterans Affairs, Centre for Research on Globalization; www.battlefields.org;  www.census.gov/history/;  history.com; Costs of War, Watson Institute, Brown University; Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

WITNESS

Millions of masticating termites in the fertile grasslands form fortresses of mud.

 Massive stone watchtowers rise from the desert floor to guard ancient cities.

 Species and civilizations vanish in a flash or a millennium leaving little trace or legacy.

 Since the creation—domination, destruction, extinction—a cultural/biological lexicon.

 A passage to be mourned, an incidental casualty—Darwinian law.

 The anonymous soldier—a shopkeeper, a school teacher, a laborer caught in an ideological battle of wills.

 Unwilling victims,asked to stand as sentinels don a protective shroud.

 They stare into darkness,track the constellations, and listen for aberrant sounds.

 They become the fallen, remembered by their families—a footnote in history.

 The shroud remains—silent, unwavering, waiting for a new day.

Jeff Key’s work can be seen at:

•GearBox Gallery—“Art + Movement”

• 770 West Grand Ave., Oakland, CA 94612

• August 15-September 7