Mark Twain's "The War Prayer"
Channel: C0nc0rdance
Date: 2010-06-25

This is strictly an homage to Mark Twain's original sentiment.  No 
deeper political message is intended.  I am merely illustrating 
how true and pointed Twain's message is today.  It speaks to the post-
9/11 attitude in the US.

Original text at the B5 Lurker's Guide:
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/making/warprayer.html

From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Prayer
"The War Prayer," a short story or prose poem by Mark Twain, is a 
scathing indictment of war, and particularly of blind patriotic  and 
religious  fervor as motivations for war.

The structure of the work is simple, but effective: an unnamed country 
goes to war, and patriotic citizens attend a church service for soldiers 
who have been called up. The people call upon their God to grant them 
victory and protect their troops. Suddenly, an "aged stranger" appears 
and announces that he is God's messenger. He explains to them that he is 
there to speak aloud the second part of their prayer for victory, the 
part which they have implicitly wished for but have not spoken aloud 
themselves: the prayer for the suffering and destruction of their 
enemies. What follows is a grisly depiction of hardships inflicted on 
war-torn nations by their conquerors. The story ends on a pessimistic 
note: the messenger is ignored.

The piece was left unpublished by Mark Twain at his death, largely due 
to pressure from his family, who feared that the story would be 
considered sacrilegious. Twain's publisher and other friends also 
discouraged him from publishing it.[citation needed] According to one 
account, his illustrator Dan Beard asked him if he would publish it 
regardless, and Twain replied "No, I have told the whole truth in that, 
and only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published 
after I am dead." Mindful of public reaction, he considered that he had 
a family to support, and did not want to be seen as a lunatic or 
fanatic.

"The War Prayer" wasn't published until six years after Twain's death, 
in unusual circumstances. World War I had broken out more than two years 
previously, and in that time had produced unprecedented casualties on 
both sides, yet with the U.S. still officially neutral, and President 
Wilson running for re-election on the slogan He Kept Us Out of War. 

Twain's story appeared in Harper's Monthly, November 1916. Had the 
attempt been made to publish it five months later, in April 1917, it 
might ironically have been seen as too unpatriotic for print.