“Year One” Reflections on Sun Tsu's Art Of War #12-1-7-General A]

“It’s fitting that” I change the chapter here
On dad’s first birthday, plus one hundred years;
For World War II was his conundrum-point,
When he stepped back, went North, let church appoint –

Him to a cause of leadership instead
Of joining up – he could not get his head
Around the sense of using warfare’s power
To steal, and kill, destroy his neighbor’s tower.

But then the stories of atrocities
Came leaking out, which put him on his knees;
What should one do when Hitler’s raging might
Made killing fields, with numbers out of sight?

Six million Jews, whom Hitler viewed as “pests”
Wiped off the map with gas and ovens, yet,
Dad chose to go a different road in life;
Was he untouched in end by Hitler’s might?

By no means – for it raised “His issue” there,
Which haunted him – how does this Christian care
About atrocities confronting him?
When prospects said – “Good chance we will not win”.

And then, “The bomb”, and days of “Silent Spring” –
Environment’s decline, and Comrade Stalin’s thing;
No answers clear as war on war emerged –
Like bubblegum, shape changes, truth’s submerged.

Why fitting this – this shift to chapter twelve?
It’s “Scope and scale” which shifts in “War is hell”;
As fire and water, used on massive scale,
Are spoken of – today “End” can prevail.

In Sun Tsu’s time, dammed rivers, floods unleashed,
Could not be breached, as mass destruction reached
What was to them an issue quite immense,
When used for war in offense or defense.

The other force was “Fire” in magnitude
Of forest fires – brought death with certitude;
One cannot stop such power once it’s unleashed,
So Sun Tsu asks, “If it should be released?”

Of course today, atomic bomb’s the game,
Now scaled on up, for hydrogen’s the same;
The neutron bomb – kills people, leaves their stuff,
Says it so well – folks never get “Enough”.

Environmental issues in our day –
Slow burning fire that poisons all today,
And all the unborn generations hence
Now weaponize? To evil one, makes sense.

But chapter twelve goes deeper, to the core
Of issues here, and begs us think some more –
“Incentive pay”; “Starvation by the rich”
Who hog the goods – Trade Center’s little “Bitch”.

The Mennonites sat out the war as well;
Dad met them there, up north, not out in hell,
Though some stepped up as soldiers, medics too;
As war dragged on – it made each person choose.

The farmers farmed to feed their fighting men,
And women, for, the need for food won’t bend
To plans we have, or greed for resource, oil;
And many worked on war matériel.

But Mennonites, as pacifists, have said –
“War does not stop with bullets, and the dead;
It carries on until fresh outbreaks come;”
They stay involved – make peace for everyone.

Sun Tsu asks if the “Tao” of “Moral power”
Has place in life – in war or peace-time’s hour;
So chapter twelve, with thoughts on scope and scale,
Press issues home – despite which side prevails.

Lord, at the outset of this chapter twelve,
I’m forced to ask about where I’ve not delved –
That’s “Armageddon”; “Big one” at the end –
Which you foretold, and Paul says will amend –

“The devil’s actions, bring death to an end,
As final foe, to which I now must blend
My heart and mind, poured out through voice and pen;
I ask Your grace that we, in You, might mend –

The Father’s place – bring New Jerusalem,
Which comes when fire on earth from heaven descends;
Like Sun Tsu says, and Prophets through the years –
We’ve got a choice, have had since Eden’s tears.

Lord, now I turn to face this issue-set;
I ask Your grace – for I’ve seen nothing yet;
May all my written journey through this lit,
Prove useful to Your work – “My tiny bit”.

Thanks Lord for this.

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