Once to Every Man and Nation,
……. comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side,
Some great cause, some new decision offering each the bloom or blight,
The choice goes on forever, twixt that darkness and that light.
The words of this hymn are difficult for me to understand correctly. Are these words about a nation taking up arms for a just cause, or what is perceived at the moment as a just cause? Is it about an individual standing for truth and on the side of good against evil? Is it a decision of faith in Christ? All of these, I’m sure.
It takes courage to make a decision on the spur of the moment when that decision may be a choice that changes everything. Fifty four years ago in a village in the highlands of Vietnam a young American lieutenant played volleyball with us in our backyard on a Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning he was killed in a battle with North Vietnam Army soldiers just five miles outside of town. He had made a decision to serve his country and though I didn’t agree with the rightness of that war, we honor his service and remember that sad day when he and many hill tribe militia soldiers were also killed alongside him, some of the many who made choices that “go on forever” from that day.
This inspirational hymn tune has been used as background for a video of the Red Army going into battle against the Nazis at St Petersburg. It has been a rallying call for the anti-abortion crusade. But also for standing up to power that makes wrong decisions to bring a country to war. And for many individual decisions - what Christians call the discernment of the will of God.
In fact, it is a protest song. The above are just four lines from a long poem titled “The Present Crisis”, written in 1845 by James Russell Lowel. It is a protest against the U.S. Mexican war which Lowel saw as an act of aggression for the purpose of extending slavery.
I remember the stretching of truth and the falsehood that President Johnson used to escalate the Vietnam war, and the claims that George W Bush made that Saddam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as the rationale for invasion in what became a long drawn out war and a great strategic mistake. The destruction unleashed by such decisions for what was deemed a just cause are choices that go on forever.
How do we know at the moment of decision if it is a right or even noble direction?
These gripping words set to an inspiring tune have been sung in many settings. Listen to this rendition sung by Christians in a Cathedral in India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHzXKTwCtg0
Thanks for bringing up the challenge of making a big decision when the one overriding option is presented by the powers that be. And deception is likely involved.
ReplyDeleteThe rendition by that quartet is stirring, and so might stir me to resistance, but doesn't help me make the choice.
How about making a distinction?
Compare the situations: THEN: far-off country, testimony of one leader urging war, no way to validate the injury claimed--Bush, LBJ
vs.
NOW: our country right here, millions claiming fraudulent elections, but evidence clearly points to the contrary.
I submit that making the decision in the second case is not at all problematic--we just need to listen again to 'Once to Man and Every Nation', gird up our loins, and resist the pulverization of our democracy.
What do you think?
Oops, meant to identify myself: Stewart Herman
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