When the war is over by William Stanley Merwin and Todays Society - Essay Example

Here Your and of Due in format: 12 Dec. 2005 "When the war is over" by William Stanley Merwin and Today's Society Unpunctuated and far from grammatical; almost rebellious, W.S. Merwin's poem "When the war is over" deals with a subject that could have been addressed at any point in the history of mankind: war. Thousands of disputes --geographical, economical, and even amorous, among others-- have been settled in the battle field. "War", though, has many meanings, and paraphrasing the Concise Oxford Dictionary they all coincide in the fact that, for it to exist there should be sustained conflict, and two or more sides involved (1382). At the beginning of the Twenty First Century, war is not merely a theme to be found in books, poems, and old black and white combat footage. It is fought today on many levels against numerous types of enemies: countries, terrorists, drug dealers, crime, pornography, institutions; and more general, against ideas. Different key players of this earth resort to war to restore order and defend or impose their own notions of how aspects of society should work. For example, something as simple, but controversial as the flow of commercial goods from one country to another, whether it is oil or fast food services, can result in many deaths in order to facilitate things for a group of interest. As Merwin puts it "when the war is over / () the salmon / And the silence of heaven will migrate more perfectly" (lines 1, 4-5), which means that, as conflicts end things should correspond, more or less, to what the system of ideas of the winning side states they should be. As explained before, war is fought on many levels. Today, a "war on terror", slightly different than the one fought in Iraq, is carried out in airports and a number of public places, making people subject to careful and oftentimes ridiculous scrutiny in order to feed an illusion of safety among the general public; "the air will be / Good for breathing at last" (Merwin, 2-3). People are so devoted to these kinds of war that are willing to trade civil liberties in order to discourage possible threats to their way of life, even if the existence of such threats remains to be proven and, provided that they do exist, if it is possible to prevent them from happening in this manner. When is a cause justification enough for war, regardless of what kind of war is being discussed That depends on the point of view and the moral system behind it. The notions of right and wrong differ from one group of people to another, and what may seem unjust for some, is heavenly for others. If there is an interest, war will find its way of justifying itself to those who promote it, and an entire system of ideas will be used to support the initiative. In the end those who fight it will be so convinced of the fore mentioned ideas that the entire society behind those men will think of them as saviors, regardless if they are plain men from Montana carrying assault rifles in Baghdad, or Arabs mumbling slogans of freedom into two-way radios on an airplane. "The dead will think the living are worth it" (Merwin, 6). In the end the "winning" point of view will prevail, accompanied by its moral system. As Merwin explains happens after the war is over: "we will know / Who we are" (6-7); that is our idea system will be proven true. However, if the ideals behind war are based on the priorities of a side's moral structure, it could be concluded from the above mentioned that the western system of ideas is not interested in several issues that should matter more than the selling of goods, because there are no significant efforts, and neither are they sustained when it comes to wars on poverty, homelessness, hunger, and VIH/AIDS, to mention a few. The events that led to the writing of W.S. Merwin's "When the War is Over" back in the 1960s are similar to today's. Back then, America fought a controversial war that did not receive enough support from the people. The useless killing of U.S. soldiers was of great concern, as was the lack of reasons to carry that campaign out. The whole "peace and love" movement that resulted thereafter was a clear indication that the moral system entered a state of contradiction and, ultimately, did not approve of the war and was not willing to back it up. Although the war on Iraq has much more support from Americans, it still has not provided enough evidence for its existence, and once again, the system that is backing it up may not do so for long, as the administration's popularity decreases, for instance. The invisible enemy that emerged from the war --terrorism--, poses new challenges for the conflict structure, rendering the traditional army ineffective as new groups of fundamentalists without a known flag decide to spread their messages with lead and powder. Agitated from this war, a new one will be spawned, as disgruntled religious groups find new ways to threaten the western traditions and institutions; a vicious circle that will require new ways of defending them. Once wars are over the fear of losing what has been conquered takes over, preparing the seeds for the conflicts to come. "And we will all enlist again" (Merwin, 8). This way of "doing things" may seem irrational, but it is deeply rooted within men, and they will continue to resolve matters in this fashion. War is inherent to mankind. It is my belief that what Merwin intended with his poem was to show the reader how war is cyclical and has followed the same pattern throughout history. People have felt good after wars, heroes have been awarded medals, and the dead have been mourned; all of that, only to repeat the situation again, and again. His poem could be summarized in this way: "When the war is over / () we will all enlist again" ( Merwin, 1,8). Works Cited Merwin, William S. "When the War is Over". The Reader Weblog. Retrieved 10 Dec. 2005 . "War". The Concise Oxford Dictionary. 8th Ed. 1990. Read More