Learn war no more
The creative, countercultural practice of forming young peacemakers
They will beat their swords into iron plows and their spears into pruning tools. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war. All will sit underneath their own grapevines, under their own fig trees.
Micah 4:3-4 (CEB)
For the last two years, Hannah Martin, an elementary reading intervention teacher and Mennonite pastor, has organized a celebration of the Feast of St. Martin as an alternative to the Veteran’s Day assemblies held at many schools in her area. This year, I was lucky enough to experience this special day myself.
Pastor Hannah and her husband, Mike Martin (the Executive Director of RAWtools, which turns surrendered guns into garden tools and other useful things) are committed to a spirituality and praxis of nonviolence. (This is a common ethic amongst many Mennonites, given their history of violent persecution and the Anabaptist tradition’s inherent suspicion of government and corresponding rejection of military service). The Martins began taking their children out of school on Veteran’s Day a few years ago, after a school assembly featuring a veteran who had worked as a sniper delved into disturbing details about that role.
Offering any kind of alternative to these school assemblies would be a radical act anywhere in the United States. But this is particularly true in the family’s hometown of Colorado Springs, which is also the location of the US Air Force Academy. The military and several companies connected to the military industrial complex are major employers in the Springs, as they are throughout Colorado. Several major evangelical organizations – like James Dobson’s Focus on the Family — are based in Colorado Springs, too, and exist in symbiotic relationship with the military.
Militarism is big business. It is also, as Mike says, the civic religion. Never is this more apparent than on Veteran’s Day, when schoolchildren sing songs and recite poetry about American “triumph,” and hear speeches from uniformed veterans glorifying war. All the spectacle is meant to inspire awe and pride.
In this economic, social and religious environment, forging a nonviolent path requires a courageous and conscious effort.
Inspired by the Prophet Micah's vision of a peaceful people who "learn war no more,” Pastor Hannah is convinced it is possible for people to learn another way to be in the world. She set out to teach children in her community (and the adults who care for them) how to practice peace. In doing so, she found a co-conspirator for change in St. Martin — the fourth-century soldier-turned-patron-saint of conscientious objectors — whose feast day is November 11.
Waging peace with joyful creativity
Martin of Tours (b. 4th Century CE) was the son of a military man and was compelled to become a soldier against his will. Tradition has it that Martin was out riding one day when he came upon a man in the cold wearing nothing but rags. Moved by compassion, Martin used his sword to cut his woolen cloak – a symbol of his status as a soldier – in order to clothe the man. That night he had a dream that he was caring for Christ himself. From that day onward, Martin refused to fight. Discharged after his army entered peace negotiations with their enemy, he committed himself to study of scripture, caring for the poor and teaching the good news of a nonviolent Gospel.
Pastor Hannah built a remarkable curriculum around the saint, which she offered to about a dozen children, ranging from perhaps five years old to a freshman in high school. To be one of the handful of adults in the room was eye opening. Among the day’s highlights:
The children learned the history of the Pledge of Allegiance (did you know it was written to celebrate Christopher Columbus?!) and their right to dissent to saying it. The curriculum explains:
Many people do not say the pledge and do not agree that we are to pledge our allegiance to a country, but rather to God, who loves the whole world. They also disagree that Columbus discovered America and show respect to indigenous communities by not saying the pledge.
Hannah read the children’s book Enemy Pie and then taught a “Peace Math” lesson. She used pie graphs to illustrate how much money is spent each year on our country’s “enemy budget” versus our “friendship budget.” Everyone gasped when she told us that the military budget this year is $805 billion, or 86% of federal discretionary funds, versus just $18 billion for education and $27 billion for healthcare.
The children then had the opportunity to write a peace budget (one of the best examples I have ever seen of engaging people in thinking about their Vision of Tomorrow), and were were also encouraged to write their representatives to share how they believe money should be spent.
In St. Martin’s Day tradition, we shared a sparkling apple cider toast. Pastor Hannah adapted the saint’s own words for this purpose. To speak them aloud and hear them in the mouths of children brought tears to my eyes:
St. Martin: Lord, if your people need me, I will not refuse the work. Your will be done.
The Toast: When the God of Peace calls, we will answer. If Your people need us, we will help. To Peace!
There were several other activities that I did not get to see, including:
an opening session with an antiwar veteran sharing his story of changing his mind about violence and war,
a reading by a local writer/gun violence prevention activist,
and finally, working with Mike to forge a garden tool out of a gun.
This very busy day was full of fun. The children were all smiles, contributing ideas with enthusiasm, art-making and laughing and enjoying one another’s company. I was enlivened by the power of their imagination and joy.
At the same time, I was grieved for the children who were not there, those not being encouraged to dream about peace but simply to celebrate militarism. How many creative ideas for healing, conflict resolution and peace have been crushed under the weight of the civic religion of militarism, with its insistence that violence is the only way?
“There are no bad guys and good guys, just choices,” Pastor Hannah told the children. Perhaps the adult version of this is something like, “There are no bad guys and good guys, just choices — constrained and empowered by the systems we inhabit.” As adults, we can choose to build alternative spaces, where imaginations can run wild and free.
I consider celebrating St. Martin’s Day with young peacemakers a very wise choice indeed. I am grateful for the gracious invitation.
Pastor Hannah’s entire curriculum is available on Teachers Pay Teachers. If you want to use this curriculum in your community, please consider making a donation.
This is amazing! I love her curriculum.
Very inspiring experience and witness. Thanks for sharing Lauren!