“Ain’t Gonna Study War No More”

by Gene Shelburne

“Ain’t gonna study war no more.” We wish these old words could be true in America at this moment, but we are presently waging a new war, a war against terrorism. This war, as our past wars, will help define our lives and our history.

What would the world be like today if there had been no American Revolution? Would absolute monarchs be reigning over nations where representative governments now exist, or do you suppose democracy would have caught on even if General George Washington had not done his work so well? If we had not fought our Civil War, would dissatisfied states still be threatening to withdraw from the Union? Could we have rid ourselves of the shame of slavery without the use of gunpowder?

On Sunday afternoon, December 7, 1941, our Comer kin was gathered on the side lawn at an uncle’s home. The adults were sitting around talking grown-up stuff and we cousins were all playing. Suddenly, as if in a scene from an old movie, a newsboy came riding his bike down El Dorado’s East Main Street: “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” “It” was Pearl Harbor.

My sister was six years old, the youngest of the cousins playing that day. I was nine, the oldest. We were children, but we still remember the way the grown-ups reacted to the newspaper. How do you suppose the horrifying television images of the World Trade Center’s destruction and the Pentagon’s damage will impact today’s children? What will they be remembering sixty years from now?

World War I was to have been the war to end all wars. Will we ever achieve that goal? When Jesus made his often-quoted statement that there will always be wars and rumors of wars, he also said, “Such things must happen.” What did he mean by this? Was he saying that people are going to keep on being people, and that our fallen race will continue doing the evil things that create wars? If this is what he meant, the events of September 11 were horrifying examples.

Shall we expect to lay down our swords and shields and “study war no more”? Not in this world. Peace will come only with the ultimate victory of Christ over every manifestation of evil, and when death, the last enemy, is destroyed. In the meantime, as our nation takes action against outlaw terrorists, we can pray for America and Americans, for our nation’s friends, and for its enemies.