The keen hawk is too flattering an image for those who perpetually push for war. We need something far more short-sighted.
Symbols are extremely powerful. They influence our perceptions far beyond knowledge of the facts can.
Hawks demonstrate precision and incredible sight, power, and speed to make the kill.
As a symbol for peace, doves connect us to holy scripture’s call for peace, boldness of witness, and the fragility of humanity. They are also numerous and nesting birds.
As mascots for the pro- and anti-war movements, these two birds speak loudly beyond what the human beings they represent actually say. And I’ve never really been comfortable with that.
As a symbol, the hawk doesn’t fit
Those people eager to send us to war over the last 20 years have demonstrated poor sight. They’ve represented a deadly combination of making remarkable fabrications to justify war while completely misjudging all of war’s outcomes.
In other words, they believed nothing bad could happen and when it does, it is always unforeseen. Hawks don’t dive headfirst blindly and pretend it wasn’t dangerous.
Many have paired an extreme optimism toward war with an extreme pessimism toward anything else. So they create a myopic view in which only war can ever solve a problem. Imagine a plumber who only keeps a hammer while throwing away all the other tools from the toolbox.
Hawks use stealth, patience, and deception to target their prey, hunt them, and kill them. Not with a hunt-or-be-hunted worldview, but because they are carnivores and they must eat. But racing to war isn’t a hunt for food with targeted discretion.
For those eager to send us to war, killing is the only key on the piano. Too often, other methods of resolving conflicts are refused. They claim everything else is weakness and all the other keys produce failure. Even as their own shortsightedness ensures war’s failure.
Hawks are remarkably fast, agile, and solitary. A hawk takes out a mouse in a field. It isn’t hundreds of thousands ordered to destroy civilian infrastructure or public officials pretending some casualties don’t count.
In these hands, the whole American war machine becomes a blunt instrument of war; like a hammer seeking a nail. So killing becomes necessary to solve every problem.
The image of the hawk is precisely the wrong image for today’s war-drummers. They are too keen a bird, too sleek in their movements, and too restrained in their power.
We need a new image
We need an image that’s more lumbering and oafish. It needs to be one-dimensional and careless, short-sighted and unrestrained. And perhaps flightless and aggressive like the ostrich.
Or, if we’re willing to look beyond the avian kingdom, we may find a more suitable image. Something less solitary; more pack-like. Insatiable and predictable. Something that can’t tell when it’s destroying its own ecosystem.
Those itching for war aren’t hawks. They’re the hyenas from The Lion King. Foolish, destructive, and not to be trusted.