Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Being my children exposed to U.S. Vietnam years you might like to recall and read the Bob Dylan music's lyrics.

Bob Dylan - With God On Our Side

Oh my name it is nothin'

My age it means less

The country I come from

Is called the Midwest

I's taught and brought up there

The laws to abide

And that land that I live in

Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it

They tell it so well

The cavalries charged

The Indians fell

The cavalries charged

The Indians died

Oh the country was young

With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American

War had its day

And the Civil War too

Was soon laid away

And the names of the heroes

I's made to memorize

With guns in their hands

And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys

It closed out its fate

The reason for fighting

I never got straight

But I learned to accept it

Accept it with pride

For you don't count the dead

When God's on your side.

When the Second World War

Came to an end

We forgave the Germans

And we were friends

Though they murdered six million

In the ovens they fried

The Germans now too

Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians

All through my whole life

If another war starts

It's them we must fight

To hate them and fear them

To run and to hide

And accept it all bravely

With God on my side.

But now we got weapons

Of the chemical dust

If fire them we're forced to

Then fire them we must

One push of the button

And a shot the world wide

And you never ask questions

When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour

I've been thinkin' about this

That Jesus Christ

Was betrayed by a kiss

But I can't think for you

You'll have to decide

Whether Judas Iscariot

Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'

I'm weary as Hell

The confusion I'm feelin'

Ain't no tongue can tell

The words fill my head

And fall to the floor

If God's on our side

He'll stop the next war.

I read the big, big book CONSTANTINE'S SWORD couple years ago and awaited the film. James Carroll, the author, was a very young Catholic priest when family lived in Rockford, IL. Dad and I recognized him from the Peace Movement, NCR and CFM. One of those gorgeous, young celibates, Joan usually exclaimed over. The music cited above runs at the end of this film along with the credits. This documentary by Oren Jacoby examines the history of anti-semitism in the Catholic Church. Fr. Carroll was a son in this large, Irish, Catholic family whose dad became an Air Force General. As a kid he ran around the halls of the pentagon on Saturday's, his day with dad. The family lived years in Europe. He loved his family, his Catholic Faith, the Air Force but decided he needed to leave his priestly vocation that he might be free to tell his story. Interested? You might want to view this flick. You will see this individual your mom has admired through the years, and hear the story he has to tell. Historical, personal and a religious epic.