Welcome back to the Fourth Wave podcast. Today is our Memorial Day episode. This year, rather than delving into the true cost of war and the casualties that nobody talks about for moral injury, I thought I'd extend the range of those who we remember. I thought I'd expand the warriors that we celebrate to include non violent warriors. Today, I want to remember those who have given their lives not only for their group, but even for the lives of their enemies.

I want to celebrate those who are unwilling to sacrifice anyone but themselves in order to make the world a better place. Now, I faced a challenge in doing this episode in that the names of the dead aren't kept like they are for wars and violent conflicts. I wasn't able to find some massive database for the non violent dead. I couldn't go to Washington DC and look at this wall that contains the name of all of our war dead. It just doesn't really exist.

It exists for certain events in non violent history, but not not for large scale things, not there's no database. So if anybody listening has the time and interest to create a database, this would be a cool way to dedicate your time and ability to do research to create a database of those killed in non violent actions. I'm sure there are tons of stories out there that we have no idea about. So in this episode, we'll be recapping some old stories and adding a few to the mix as well. However, what I want you to do is to recognize that this isn't a comprehensive list of course, and these are just representatives of those who have given their lives non violently and those who continue to do that today in places like, I think in Iran, just fairly recently in the last two years, they had some repressive protests and things.

Now, I'll link a I'll put a link in the show notes that has names and pictures a number of those people as well. So check out the show notes for some added links. So we're just going take a look at a few names and a few cases and honor those as representatives of the broader community throughout time who have laid down their lives. So one of the first images I get when I think of non violent demonstrations is Tank Man from Tiananmen Square. This brave Chinese man faced down a tank and he kept moving in front of it.

And if you know China, you don't put it past China to run over its own people with a tank. Until very recently, I actually thought that the guy eventually got run over, but supposedly, like he was pulled away by a group of people and the Chinese government said that they're pretty sure he survived, they don't think he was killed. Though there were hundreds or thousands of people killed that day eventually. So while Tank Man may or may not have actually died, I think his image is a good one with which to start as it's a good representation of Remembrance Day. It's just iconic and you can just as well imagine that tank running over him and his willingness for that tank to run over him because he just wouldn't get out of the way.

And many people did die just by bullets and other things that day. So that's who I picture in my head when I think of non violent resistance, just so iconic. Next, think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Sophie Scholl. I grew up on World War II movies and that conflict is just so powerful to me. I recognize part of that is because growing up, it was anachronistic to me like I imported, Oh, we were fighting the Nazis who were trying to kill all the Jews, and that wasn't the case.

But nevertheless, being able to import that anachronistically was really helpful to make it as powerful as it was. So it regardless of the truth, in me, this making of World War II is this just huge good versus evil conflict. I mean, doesn't get any bigger than that for me. So when I think of nonviolent individuals who faced the epitome of evil, Bonhoeffer and Scholl tend to come to mind to me. They were two German citizens, a gentle pastor and a young university student that stood up to the most powerful nation army of their time and they got hung and guillotined for it and that's just powerful to me.

A gentle preacher and I don't wanna call him preacher, I don't like that, gentle pastor because he didn't just preach, he shepherded his disciples. So a gentle pastor and a young university student and the government viewed those two as great enough threats to hang and guillotine. Insane. And then of course, when speaking to Nazi Germany, about Nazi Germany, we recognize the thousands, many who are nameless in Denmark, Poland and elsewhere who gave their lives to love their neighbors by hiding Jews and getting Jews and political dissidents out so that the Germans couldn't kill them. I think especially of Andre Trocme in France who had a community who was willing to sacrifice their lives as well.

Next, think of Gandhi and the Civil Rights Movement which is probably where most people go to first in their minds, especially Americans Civil Rights Movement, but non violence Gandhi of course too. And along with the civil rights movement, think of people like Evers, Medgar Evers and Freedom Riders and people who were killed for just trying to talk about equality. And there's a good link that lists some of the big figures who were killed, not all of them on the side of non violence but a number of those people who died in direct connection to non violent action in the civil rights era. And they weren't just people who died but also people who were scarred for life from their interactions with hate whether they were bitten by dogs or beaten and were never the same again. There were a lot of people who sacrificed in the civil rights era.

And then I think of more modern movements. I think of the 1,500 individuals killed during Iranian uprising in 2019. And like I said, there's a link in the show notes and it has the names of eight thirty of these martyrs that were killed with many of their faces. It's sobering to see a wall of names and then to see all of those faces that you know are no longer alive. It's just surreal.

There's so many who have given their lives in service to making the world better, who've laid down their lives not only for friends but with regard to their enemies as well not being willing to kill them. Certainly, some use non violence without regard for enemies and just simply do it as a pragmatic method, but many don't. Many are committed to enemies as well as to friends. So, I want to remember these men and women and children which it's interesting to be able to acknowledge women and children, you know, something that you don't do much of when you're talking about using and bearing the means of violence. I think honoring these men and women and children is important not only to give them due respect but for some practical reasons as well.

First, these people are everyone's representatives. When The United States fights a war, for the most part, it's an American victory. When we have Memorial Day, it's Memorial Day for American soldiers. When we have Veterans Day, we are remembering American veterans. We're not remembering Afghani veterans, Taliban veterans and Taliban dead, right?

We don't do that. Or Iranian dead and Iranian vets. But when a non violent revolution occurs, it really is a victory for all who are for justice. It's a power of the people who recognize the value of all humanity, not just a particular group. It's something that we share, we can share together as a victory for humanity as a whole.

So, if you are engaged in non violent action in Iran, when you see non violent action in Taiwan and if you see them succeed, you are happy for them. Like, wherever you see non violent action, it's almost like a brotherhood, like humanity is winning. And so, a Memorial Day for one specific, you know, where we remember Bonhoeffer or whatever, that's a victory for all of us, not just because he was fighting the Nazis, but because he was showing us what it means to be human, true human, and loving other humans, even enemies. Second, plenty of these martyrs didn't see the fruits of their labor. Tank Man and the Iranian martyrs, the recent Iranian martyrs have yet to see their nations liberated.

Bonhoeffer and Scholl died in uncertain times as did many civil rights leaders. Remembering those who died in principle apart from past or current successes, it's really important to keeping the spirit at the core of non violent movements alive. The goal is in loving all and in revealing truth. The actions are noble and right not because people died, not because power shifted, and not because results occurred. The actions are noble and worthy because they represent what is ultimately good.

They represent what brings true peace and true freedom. Remembering the spirit where it has existed and where it exists today across all times and places and cultures is not only important to honor those who have died, but also to foster a spirit that is able and willing to do the hard work of peacemaking in the future. Those we honor, we tend to model. So why not model peacemakers? For it is the peacemakers that shall be called the sons of God.

Remember with me today, those who have shown us the path to peace and the cost of love, many of whom have given glimpses of what God Himself says that He is like. That's all for now. So peace and because I'm a pacifist, when I say it, I mean it.