Replacing the Warrior: Cultural Ideals and Militarism

For someone of my generation to address militarism invites reflection on certain facts about growing up in America. Born in 1944, I grew up knowing that my country was squared off against a belligerent rival, each country having the power and quite possibly the will to do unimaginable damage to the other without warning and for no intelligible reason. Though we do not like to confront the lethal absurdity of superpower politics, as citizens we must face the fact that while we pursue our ordinary lives--educating ourselves, thinking of careers, of families, of the joys and concerns of daily living--there are people devoting their talents and resources to the creation of devices whose use would end every daily life on the planet. This bizarre situation should lead us to wonder about the values we have chosen to follow.

This pamphlet germinated from an invitation by a student committee at St. Catherine to participate in a series of "last lectures." In this format one is to pretend that the address one gives is the last assignment for a dedicated teacher. He decided to tell his audience about John Woolman, of whom, it was safe to say, virtually none had heard. A number of people who came out on a bitter night in November, 1981, to hear the talk asked where and when it would be published. Two years later they were still asking, so he embarked on the series of revisions which has resulted in this much changed and expanded essay. Along the way he has received inestimable emotional and intellectual support from the monthly gatherings of a small but diverse circle of friends enjoying together the pleasures of serious conversation and good desserts.