Careless Contradictions

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing there's just too little of"
             -- Jackie Deshannon, "What the world needs now is love"

War and peace. The amusing words jump from the mouths of hippies like crickets jumping to different patches of grass, unsure of where they belong. Sherman Alexie's father supported the peace movement, and like the crickets, was isolated from the rest of American society. He "goes to war for peace" but fails to realize that peace isn't attainable (Alexie 25). Any synergy between war and peace is not present, creating a paradoxical relationship between the two. For instance, Sherman Alexie's father abandons his family to hopefully eradicate the "war" occurring in the household. The father is looking for peace, and isolates himself further from those that are closest to him. Even though one war is over, an emotional war, created by his father's absence, arises for Alexie. He lays "in bed and cried" and feels emotional distress, portraying that peace is not created when war is finished (Alexie 35). Although his parents fought with a "graceful anger that only love can create", they fight for peace and are unaware that peace cannot arise from the absence of war. This not only points out the dysfunction of the family, but the dysfunctional perception of the hippie movement. The paradox between war and peace brings to light the contradictions and craziness of the 1960's hippie perception that peace is attainable after suffering from war. Even Alexie's hippie father painted "red peace symbols" on his face, yet held "a rifle above his head", conveying this contradiction (Alexie 25). Alexie's father isolated himself by trying to find peace through war, as if he were drowning in the sea between two very different islands.