THE LAST RIVER MILE

Recently I listened to a newscast which understandably was dominated by the current conflict in the middle east. By the time I caught up with the broadcast it was the financial report. Wall Street was reacting with predictable volatility to the war’s impact on oil distribution and the global market. This particular day included the bounce-back between the threat to end a civilization and a potential short-term cease-fire, within a matter of hours. I caught a statement the newscaster made, almost without thinking. He said something to the effect that interesting, timely trades had happened in the up and down swings of the market.

I’m nowhere close to a stock market expert. I don’t even know enough to be a newbie. And I certainly am in no position to suggest any connecting of dots. But I do know this to be true: war is big business. This isn’t a matter of being liberal or conservative. It’s just about realities. In the first place, warfare requires ordnance. Ordnance costs money. I don’t know any manufacturers of ordnance who operate as not-for-profits. In addition, war creates destabilizations. In such vacuums, profiteers can flourish. This can include deep-pocket investors. Regardless of the cause or necessity of any war, somebody somewhere is making money.

In warfare as in any situation in which wealth is the aim, human beings become little more than a commodity. This is especially true of those who are most in harms way, civilian or military. As George Orwell once observed, “All the war-propaganda…invariably comes from people who are not fighting.”

Jesus, regarded as the Prince of Peace, made it ominously clear: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.” (Matthew 25:45.) This holds true whenever we put gas prices, the Dow Jones, global markets, and profits over people who are dying in the crossfire.

And overlaying it all with the dangerous combination of pseudo-testosterone bravado and misinterpreted biblical content or divine intent just makes it worse.

I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.