I am not an expert when it comes to understanding wars, but I am aware of the wars that have been fought during my lifetime. 

As a kid, I remember the Vietnam War. It was widely televised on the nightly news. I recall two things about that conflict. During Walter Cronkite’s evening broadcast, when he gave the body count of the number of American soldiers who’d died that day, I felt sad. Secondly, I feared that if the war went on long enough, I’d be drafted. 

Thankfully the war ended before I turned 18 and only men, not women were drafted.

   Fight No More

Though it happened long before I was born, another war I am familiar with is the Nez Perce War. As a fourth grade teacher, I teach Idaho history and every year my students and I read Thunder Rolling in the Mountains, by Scott O’Dell. I never tire of reading this story and every time I read it, I appreciate more deeply the perseverance the Nez Perce Tribe displayed. 

They traveled 1,170 miles in 126 days evading the U.S. Calvary’s attempt to force them onto a reservation. But, finally, Chief Joseph surrendered to General Nelson Miles with these famous words, “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” Chief Joseph gave up the fight and he and his people were marched onto a reservation. 

When my students express their sadness as we finish the final chapter of this historical novel, I recall how I felt watching the televised war coverage of Vietnam. Any war is a sad state of affairs and someone always has to surrender to someone else. 

Yet, everyone of us, whether we’ve fought in a war or not, has at one time or another surrendered, ceded our power, or given ourselves over to someone or something. 

For instance, I can think of at least two bad habits I gave myself to. First, there was my habit of smoking. For quite a few years, I gave in to the wonderful feelings of nicotine. This little drug gave me a little buzz of energy along with the false belief that smoking helped me keep from getting fat. 

Sarcasm was another one of my bad habits that I released myself to. Again, it was a false belief. I thought that by cutting someone down with my cynicism before they cut me down with theirs would somehow keep me safe. Not a very healthy ideology and not at all conducive to building genuine relationships. 

But, I’ve let those life sucking habits go and instead have surrendered myself to a different way of thinking, one that gives life and one that is genuine. 

Why bother to surrender? There are a plethora of people, ideas, and habits we choose to give ourselves over to. Considering the long term results of our choices will help us to choose a wiser way.