Storms are in the news. Sadly, the tragedy in Texas that took many lives last week is on the minds of many. It is heartbreaking. Storms can be severe, but they pass. It’s the way of weather and life.
In the summer along the Potomac River, storms roll through frequently. Sometimes from our vantage point on the Virginia side of the river, storms stay on the Maryland side, hugging the opposite shore and providing us with a spectacular natural fireworks display as they rumble along their normal path toward the Chesapeake Bay.
Alternatively, storms travel across our abode on the Virginia side, often shrouding us in claps of thunder and bolts of lightning. The rain that comes with flashes and bangs benefits nearby fields planted with corn and soybeans as well as our garden of tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and peppers. The storms that do not threaten us are welcomed. But we do not have a choice concerning their disposition. We are subject to their whims, good or bad.
The storms of life are similar in that they come upon us without warning. There is no Weather Channel to alert us to the troubles that suddenly beset us. We must turn to Godly wisdom to be prepared for that inevitability. And like many of the families who lost loved ones swept away in Texas last week—innocent and precious people—we must rely on our faith to see us through. Such is life. When unexpected storms fall upon us, we must be prepared to endure them. That’s true for both individuals and nations.
The United States has seen many storms over the 250 years of our existence. Of course, the first storm was the war we fought for our independence from Great Britain. It was forced upon us by the tyranny of King George III, who wrongly subordinated us to a parliament we did not elect. We had been deprived of our right to home rule established in the charters the King agreed to honor. It was a storm of great significance. But with the grace of God, we endured.
We won that conflict, but in time the disaffections and imperfections of our founding would reveal a division that would be settled by a Civil War. That storm claimed many lives, but in the process reset the nation on a path that would honor the founding principle that all men are created equal.
There would be more wars, some ill-advised, others forced upon us. World War I was a storm we entered late but in short order left honorably as victors. World War II would see us come to Europe’s aid once again while repelling Japanese aggression that began with a surprise attack on our own territory. That storm would end in four years and with it any innocence that the US could avoid the major role we needed to play in sustaining world order. Some chaff at that today. But if we see things as they are and not as we wish them to be, we will understand that we cannot stand by passively while evil raises its head and threatens our national interest.
Those storms would be followed by others. The Korean War witnessed a free republic invaded by a totalitarian government even as the US was attempting to hold back the tide of Russian and Chinese aggression in a post-war world. That same situation would arise in Vietnam. Its outcome revealed the limits of our power as a nation to engage in counterinsurgencies, even when we might have been well-intended.
There would be more storms after that, including the war I served in—appropriately named “Desert Storm”—where the US and a mighty coalition repelled raw aggression by Iraq’s Saddam Hussein against neighboring Kuwait. That was a storm we dispensed within months and to a very good effect.
Then 9-11 occurred. It was a dastardly attack. Unfortunately, our response was one that led us down the road of more counterinsurgencies, costing much blood and treasure. We failed to recall the lessons of Vietnam, even if we were justified in pursuing terrorists into their vermin-infested caves. We miscalculated our approach. And in doing so, we showed that we could make worse the storms that befall us.
Now we face more storms. The one in Ukraine is particularly perilous to us if we stand by and pretend that Russia’s rank aggression is of no concern to us. That would be naive. Just as silly as those who wrongly think that Iranian nuclear proliferation is none of our business. Yet we must be wise in how we handle these storms. And unlike those arising on the Potomac, sometimes we cannot simply observe them as they roll past us nor shut our eyes tightly, pretending they do not exist.
0 Comments