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By Melissa Slager

I don’t remember my Uncle Mike very well. I was only nine years old when he died, but what is imprinted in my memory was his passion for flying and conviction for missions. He lived both of those dreams as a bush pilot in Nigeria, Africa.

He died instantly when his plane crashed on the way to pick up another patient. My grandma lost her only son. My mother and her sister lost a brother. My aunt was a widow at age 30.

What I remember of my uncle is fragmentary and unsatisfying. I have to face the fact that I never really knew him. So then I ask, was it worth him working for God so far away, only to die?

Even during his short ministry there the aviation program was about to go under. Fuel was expensive and difficult to obtain. Newly improved roads made flying more of a luxury than a necessity.

With few flights left in his career, a shroud of fog and mist hid the telephone pole that ended his life. Crash.

Was it worth it? The question has relevance beyond my uncle’s missionary work to the current conflict in Kosovo.

With frustration over Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s continued “ethnic cleansing” of Kosovar Albanians, are NATO efforts worth the money and energy?

America, the world’s missionary in foreign affairs when human rights are violated, is deeply involved in a possible no-win situation. Whenever Milosevic agrees to the demands NATO seeks, the question will still remain whether Albanians and Serbs can effectively resume co-existence.

Likely, the answer to that question is no. So, where and when will it end?

Our understanding of regions of the world that experience such ethnic conflicts is just as fragmentary and unsatisfying as my memories of Uncle Mike. We don’t live there, and we have to face the fact that we don’t fully understand what really goes on, or why.

Still, we are searching for a way to create peace. But are we flying our planes and dropping our bombs to save, or destroy?

Perhaps all the while our fuel is running out, our mission is about to shut down, and the shroud of idealism hides the view that the world really has no idea of how to create universal equality and peace. Crash.

Is it worth it?

My Aunt Deanne seemed to ask the same question when she wrote an article following her husband’s death. Though the flight program was on its last wing, Mike and his fellow pilots had made a difference in many lives.

“And God showed us at the funeral that people can be united,” she said. “Blacks and whites, Muslims and Christians, all representing many tribes and many lifestyles, came together that day. They put their differences aside to mourn the loss of their friend, Mike, and to extend love and support to me.”

The divisions within a Nigerian society were forgotten at least for one day to focus on a common friend. Perhaps in seeking the same kind of unity, Serbs, Albanians, and NATO countries need a similar focus — one that centers on humanity.

We can’t ignore situations where babies are murdered, families are driven from their homes, and more emphasis is placed on ethnic patriotism than peace.

At the same time, we can’t deny that the Kosovo conflict is probably a lose-lose situation in the short-term, and that peace may never be ultimately achieved in the long-term.

But every nation has hope for something, and no one wants to lose a son, a brother, a husband, or a friend. If those different hopes are turned towards the common desire of preserving and honoring human life, then perhaps some of what we’re doing now really is worth it in the long run.