The\r\nLife of Coward\r\n<\/p>
Author: Stephen\r\nDeVoy<\/i><\/p>\r\nCoward is Born\r\n
The two parents were blessed with a new boy and they named him Coward. They\r\nhad wanted a girl, but they loved him all the same. Coward was a sweet boy with\r\na baby face and a pleasant smile. They took Coward home to his brothers and\r\nsisters and they too were pleased. The brothers were happy to have a new brother\r\nand the sisters were happy to have a baby to dote over.
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\r\nCoward's dad was determined to raise Coward to be just like him - a successful\r\ncorporate man. The father would instill in Coward all of the values he loved -\r\nobedience, servitude and patriotism. As Coward grew, his father taught him that\r\nGod came first, country came second and family came third. There was no space\r\nfor self. \"God, country and family!\" his dad would say.
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\r\nCoward was jealous of his brother Dexter. Dexter was smarter than Coward. Dexter\r\nwas less loved by his father than Coward but more loved by his mother. While\r\nCoward looked up to his dad, Dexter looked up to his mom. While Coward learned\r\nto respect authority, Dexter learned to despise authority. While Coward sought\r\npraise from his mother and father, Dexter was satisfied with his own self esteem\r\nand did not seek approval.
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\r\nCoward, like his parents, became a Christian. Dexter became an atheist. Coward,\r\nlike his parents became a capitalist. Dexter became an anarchist. Coward\r\nmeasured his value in terms of what others deemed it to be while Dexter did not\r\nspend much time on estimating his value - he assumed it irrelevant.<\/p>\r\nCoward Grows Up\r\n
By\r\nthe time Coward finished high school, Dexter was almost finished with college. A\r\nwar was brewing and there was talk of a draft. Dexter, despite his differences\r\nwith his brother, loved his brother. Moreover, Dexter loved everybody and saw in\r\neverybody value derived not from what they had or who they obeyed, but derived,\r\ninstead, from being a human being. And so it happened that as the spectra of war\r\nraised its head, Dexter opposed it and Coward supported it. Dexter had grown to\r\nsee the world as it is, a network of greedy and dishonest men playing chess with\r\nthe lives of better men, sending them to battle and death, for the advancement\r\nof power and conquest. Coward had grown up to see the world as his parents saw\r\nit, a hierarchy of individuals and institutions constructed in terms of their\r\nmerit (e.g. the degree to which they were blessed with the false values of\r\nobedience, servitude and patriotism) and selected by a \"divine\"\r\nprocess codified in law. Coward didn't really love anyone, he just learned how\r\nto admire obedience, servitude and patriotism, so it was of no surprise that\r\nCoward supported the war.
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\r\nCoward's parents grew more fond of Coward than Dexter. After all, Coward\r\nreflected their values of obedience, servitude and patriotism while Dexter\r\nreflected the values of honesty, liberty and justice. Coward would make\r\npatriotic statements and his parents would be pleased. Dexter would use\r\n\"unfair\" tricks, commonly known as \"facts\" and\r\n\"reason\" to prove that the war was not patriotic and was, instead,\r\nbased on greed, manipulation and deceit.
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\r\nWhen the draft came, Coward began to have second thoughts. After all, he might\r\njust die in the war. Coward, however, did not speak up. He valued the praise of\r\nhis mother and father and he saw that those such as Dexter who spoke out against\r\nobedience, servitude and patriotism were unloved, un-praised and the target of\r\nopen derision. Coward and Dexter were drafted.<\/p>\r\nCoward is Drafted\r\n
When Coward and Dexter received their draft notices, their mother and father\r\nwere proud that their sons would fight for the beloved homeland. This pride was\r\ninterrupted when Dexter refused to serve. Dexter burned his draft papers, spoke\r\nout against the war, went AWOL and became a fugitive. Mother and father disowned\r\nDexter. \"Our honor would be saved by Coward,\" they thought.
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\r\nIn training, Coward began to wonder if Dexter was right, but he did not speak up\r\nbecause he knew his parents would be prouder of him if he served and did his\r\nduty. When Coward arrived at the war zone, he discovered a world unlike any he\r\nhad known. Death was around him, the civilians under his boot in the foreign\r\nland had fear entrenched in their eyes, the cities were homes to the dislocated\r\n- orphaned children on the street, wives in search of dead husbands and the\r\nstench of death. It is in this foreign land that Coward was issued a weapon and\r\nsent off to kill.
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\r\nDuring his first battle, Coward remembered the words of his God, \"Thou\r\nshall not kill.\" As he fought his way across the battle field, he found\r\nhimself face to face with the enemy, looking in to the enemy's eyes. In the\r\nenemy's eyes he saw himself, a frightened young man thrown into the jaws of war.\r\nThey were all just like himself. \"Thou shall not kill,\" echoed in his\r\nhead. \"We're proud of you son,\" echoed the voice of mother and father\r\nin his head. He raised his gun and shot. He saw, in the eyes of the soldier he\r\nkilled, his own eyes as they would have been had they traded places. The enemy\r\nsoldier lay bleeding on the field, tears streaked down the enemy soldier's face\r\nand the enemy soldier died. Coward was stunned. \"How could I kill a\r\nman?\" he thought. This would not be the last man he would kill.
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\r\nDexter, on the run, began to wage his own war, only Dexter chose words and not\r\nweapons. Dexter became vilified by the press. They called Dexter a coward.\r\nDexter lost his family, his friends, his comfort, his safety and his reputation.\r\nDespite all of this, Dexter stood strong. He defied the government and he defied\r\nthe war. He took to defacing bill boards with anti-war slogans. Under the cover\r\nof night, he would paint is anti-war statements wherever he could, always sure\r\nto place a circle \"a\" next to the statement.
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\r\nWhen there were protests, Dexter wore a black mask to hide his identity.\r\nWhenever the police would arrest someone at a demonstration, Dexter and others\r\nwould attack the police and drag the arrestees away from the police into safety.\r\nAs the anti-war movement became more militant, Dexter began to organize others.\r\nIn time they became known as the resistance.
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\r\nMeanwhile, Coward continued with the fight, and though his God taught him not to\r\nkill he continued to kill because he lacked the courage not to kill. Given the\r\nchoice between doing what is right and what is safe, Coward chose the latter.\r\nCoward won many medals for his soldierly actions. He was obedient, servile and\r\npatriotic. Dexter won nothing for his heroic resistance to war and tyranny.\r\nUnlike Coward, however, Dexter was not looking for personal gain.<\/p>\r\nCoward Dies\r\n
And on the same day, half a world apart, the two brothers died in battle. A\r\nnew recruit from the enemy army found himself face to face with Coward. In\r\nCoward's eyes he saw himself. He remember the words of his God, \"Thou shall\r\nnot kill.\" He raised his rifle and shot Coward. Coward fell to the Earth,\r\nhis body shattered and felt the life draining from him. He heard an inner voice,\r\nthe voice of his father, say, \"I am proud of you Coward.\" Coward's own\r\nvoice replied, \"Fuck you, Dad,\" and he died.
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\r\nDexter was in battle with the police. A cop looked into Dexter's eyes and saw\r\nthe enemy, not himself. The cop shot Dexter. Dexter fell to the Earth, his body\r\nshattered and felt the life draining from him. He heard an inner voice, the\r\nvoice of his father, say, in a mocking tone, \"Was it worth it,\r\nDexter?\" Dexter's own voice replied, \"Yes, Dad, it was worth it,\"\r\nand he died.
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\r\nOn the mantle in the former home of Coward and Dexter, there is a photo of\r\nCoward in his uniform. Laid out next to the photo are a row of medals. The\r\nfamily always talks of Coward the hero. They never mention Dexter.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"It takes much more courage to resist war than to answer the call of those who would send you.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2005\/11\/139518.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}