Love Amid Bombs and Smoke: Can Love Blossom Out of War?

Photo by Gera Cejas

Stephen Lloyd Auslender asks in his humorous wartime love story Dick and Jane Go to War if one can find love amid bombs and smoke. We won’t be spoiling the specificities of the book’s answer, of course, but the answer is a resounding yes.

Any stage, no matter the trouble and the mess, is ample enough for love to blossom. That is especially the case with wartime when people’s nerves are high-strung, and hearts are constantly on the beat!

War seems an unlikely place for love. Yet, amidst the rubble and the echoes of conflict, the human heart, tenacious and resilient, often finds ways to sing its song.

The Love Amid Bombs and Smoke

When people talk about love, what often comes to mind is romantic love, but don’t forget there are other types of love: the love between friends, the love between family, the love between neighbors, etc.

As such, it should come as no surprise that all kinds of love just emerge during wartime. You can really see this when you read Dick and Jane Go to War. We’ve also talked at some length about romantic love on this website before, so in this article, we’ll touch upon the other forms in which love manifests itself, from the love between compatriots to the love between family and to love as a form of resistance.

Photo by Brett Sayles

Love Between Comrades

A profound form of love that emerges–in abundance–during wartime is the camaraderie that arises between soldiers. Sharing hardship while constantly reminded of the possibility of death can result in a bond that surpasses ordinary friendships. In the blind field of war, soldiers must rely on each other for survival, both to keep their minds and bodies in check. When there is this deep-seated reliance on another, love (in quite the platonic sense) can form.

This love is often unspoken, expressed through silent acts of support, shared glances, and the simple act of being present. You have my back; I have yours. The bonds between soldiers that war makes, forged many times over in the trenches and beyond, often endure long after the guns have fallen silent.

Love Between Family

The love between family flourishes whenever and wherever, and it is an important pillar during wartime. During these tumultuous periods, family members go to extraordinary lengths to protect each other and keep each other safe from conflict, however much possible. This is similar to the camaraderie between soldiers in that there’s nothing that wouldn’t be done to keep the others safe, but it is different in that there is already love there, which can only be reinforced and remade better.

This is not a merely sentimental love; this love often transforms itself into a driving force, a primal instinct that fuels one’s will to survive and to contribute to the world. Where the love between soldiers may compel them to die for each other’s sake, the love between family almost always compels them to live for each other’s continued well-being.

Love as a Form of Resistance

In the face of oppression and violence, love is an act of resistance. When hate fills the air, and there is only madness on the horizon, love is an act of cleaving. It is a defiant reassertion of one’s humanity in a bleak and despair-inducing landscape. To love during war is a refusal to succumb to despair and accept that there is no such thing as hope, goodness, and whatever else.

This love is a manifestation for love of humanity itself, with all its flaws and imperfections. Thus, acts of kindness, compassion, and solidarity are powerful weapons against forces that would seek to spread hatred and destruction.

Love is not merely a personal emotion; it is a political act.

Photo by Brett Jordan

Is there Love Amid Bombs and Smoke?

Despite the challenges, the human capacity for love and resilience remains a testament to the enduring power of hope. Even in the darkest of times, love can find a way to bloom, offering a glimmer of light in the midst of despair.

War is tragic and sometimes comical, but the stories that come out of them are stories of human strength and perseverance.

The question of whether love can blossom out of war is not a simple one.

But it is one that has a definite answer. Stephen Lloyd Auslender’s Dick and Jane Go to War is available on this website. If you want to learn more about it and/or order a copy, click this link.