Armageddon in Retrospect

Armageddon in Retrospect
By Kurt Vonnegut


This is a posthumous collection of twelve new and unpublished writings on war and peace that range from a visceral nonfiction recollection of the destruction of Dresden during World War II — an essay that is as timely today as it was then — to a painfully funny short story about three Army privates and their fantasies of the perfect first meal upon returning home from war, to a darker, more poignant story about the impossibility of shielding our children from the temptations of violence.

1. Vonnegut's Speech at Clowes Hall, Indianapolis, April 2007
2. Wailing Shall Be in All Streets
3. Great Day
4. Guns Before Butter
5. Happy Birthday, 1951
6. Brighten Up
7. The Unicorn Trip
8. Unknown Soldier
9. Spoils
10. Just You and Me, Sammy
11. The Commandant's Desk
12. Armageddon in Retrospect

Vonnegut writes each story with extraordinary insight and a lively style that forces you to reassess your view on war. His own experience as a prisoner of war in Dresden during WWII brings each story to life with realistic descriptions of conditions, characters and dialog. Each story reveals the foolishness of war, the brutality of all sides, and the total waste of life and property that war brings.

In “Spoils,” the main character goes out with his buddies to pillage a village for war souvenirs and to find food for supper. While in a barn looking for food, he finds a rabbit in a cage and kills it, hoping to make a delicious stew with it. Suddenly, the inhabitants return to their farm, so he hides in the shadows of the barn. As he waits, a small boy comes in and finds his pet rabbit dead. The soldier watches in horror as the little boy carries his beloved pet outside and falls down weeping and wailing. As a result, the soldier refuses to collect souvenirs and returns back to the United States ridden with guilt.

In “Just You and Me, Sammy,” the main character is a German-American who served in the American Army and was captured by the Germans. While in a prison camp, he observes George, another German-American soldier in the U.S. Army who was also captured. George gains the German guards’ confidence and becomes the camp entrepreneur, trading cigarettes and other goods for food and favors. Now that the Russians are coming, he is worried and talks Sammy into going into town with him. George tries to “buy” Sammy’s dog tags so he can assume his identity to escape a court martial for collaborating with the enemy. George doesn’t have the nerve to kill Sammy and misses his chance when the Russians come. After the Russians leave them alone, Sammy kills George with a pistol he found in the house and then lies to Army Intelligence, saying he accidentally shot himself after falling into a ditch. After investigating the incident, they discover that George had fake ID tags because he was a German spy sent to the camp to gain intelligence for the Nazis.

In “The Commander’s Desk” an American Major sets up a headquarters in a Czech town and forces a carpenter to make him a desk. The carpenter was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Americans after suffering both under the Russians and the Nazis, but becomes quickly disenchanted with the gruff major. The only American who has any sensitivity is a captain assigned as the major’s aide, so the carpenter builds a relationship with him. The major puts a lot of pressure on the carpenter to finish the desk, so the carpenter makes a secret drawer and places a bomb in it. However, as soon as the desk is delivered, the major is transferred and the captain takes his place. The carpenter informs the captain of the secret drawer and deactivates the bomb before it can go off.

In “Armageddon in Retrospect” scientists are searching for ways to prove that the Devil exists and find a way to trap him. In one last attempt, the lead scientist talks his assistant into performing one last attempt to trap the Devil in a special copper barrel wired with electricity to keep him from escaping. After performing a special ceremony at midnight, the scientist begins to go mad and falls into the copper barrel. The assistant locks him inside and turns on the electricity, claiming that the scientist had become possessed by the Devil.

Thomas Merton on Peace

"Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience."

Thomas Merton

Life Lessons 11

The eleventh life lesson is Surrender. Learning to surrender makes life more enjoyable, meaningful, and peaceful. When you try to control the uncontrollable you lose the enjoyment of the experience of life and become exhausted. Refusing to surrender leaves you exhausted, hinders your relationships, destroys your happiness.

You don't know what is best for you. Let God be God in your life. Learn to pray like Jesus, “Thy will be done.” Your plans are only a working blueprint; let God make His last minute changes as He sees fit.

Learn to receive. It is more blessed to give, but we must also learn to be blessed by receiving. Often our pride gets in the way and we lose out on this blessing. Surrender to what God and others give you. Accept what they give as it is given, not as you wish it would be.

Listen to all that someone has to say before disagreeing with her. Let her express herself in her own words from her own perspective. Don’t demand that everyone think and feel exactly as you do. Surrender for the time it takes for others to fully express themselves so that you fully understand them before making any comments.

Learn to be happy with the way things are if you can't change them. Surrender to reality. Peace comes when we stop struggling. Ask: What do you want to change? Why do you want to change it? Is it possible for me to change it? If it is not possible, then surrender. Opportunities we would never have thought of come only after we surrender. Learn to pray the “Serenity Prayer”:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.
--Proverbs 3:5-6