But How Long Will it Take?

And when will we ever learn?

My father was wounded at Pearl Harbor 1941, an event which precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II, in which countless people died and countless more suffered.

My mother bought this picture, by Sister Corita Kent, during a relatively calm period following the Vietnam war, against which a whole generation demonstrated.

It has hung on my wall since she died in 1998.

Since then the scene has shifted to the Middle East, the number of conflicts have escalated. and cultural misunderstandings and feelings of cultural superiority seem to have blurred the lines and widened the gaps. Countless people continue to suffer and die.

Since this picture has hung on my wall, endless war has done nothing to mitigate the violence, hate and polarization caused by man's inhumanity to man.

Sister Corita has died, but the hope for our ability to create a life without war seems to have died with her.

Today the drumbeat of war is just as loud, just as blind, just as deaf to the lessons of the past. When will we recognize the fact that war is not the answer?