War Is A Problem That Can Be Solved.
Too much death and destruction occurs during time of war. There is also too much power in the hands of those making decisions concerning war or peace. Religious maniacs have lately reared up their nasty heads and have declared war upon everyone else who doesn’t agree with them, especially we here in the U.S. Attempts have always been made to keep civilians away from the front, at least until the 20th century. More and more now, war has engulfed entire nations: people, cities and industries included.
When Dresden was bombed, some pilots were told they would be dropping bombs upon military targets instead of non-military targets they actually hit. This shows Man’s inherent reluctance to kill his fellow Man, that they have to be deceived into killing. Most men won’t kill unless in extreme circumstances, such as war, when not killing can get you killed.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the world entered a new state of war. This one will determine the direction that the Human race takes. Will we triumph and either convert the enemy to our mindset or utterly destroy them? Or will they triumph, dragging us back to the Dark Ages? My belief is that the Muslim world has decided that it is time to turn the entire world into one giant Afghanistan. They will do it by the sword, as they have always done. If that is the case, the world will be at war for a very long time. This conflict may last the better part of a century, but it won’t be over until one side or the other has been overwhelmed or eradicated. Will ignorance and intolerance or literacy and justice ultimately triumph? Only time will tell, as both sides are very determined and persistent.
War can be halted in its tracks by ending competition for the world’s goods and services. If everyone had equal opportunity for everything they wanted the chances of war breaking out are very, very low. If all of the Have-Nots were to become equal to the Haves, conflict would virtually cease. If those in power would not engage in Nepotism or favoritism, resentment among the masses for those in power would be in short supply. If everyone had what everyone else had, no one would covet what his neighbor had, except for his wife and his share of Everything.
Even these factors can be overcome in time through the total enslavement of the hearts and minds of Mankind under a single ruler overseeing a single world government. Picture all the world as Rome in 40 B.C., or Sparta in 500 B.C. Our leaders’ name could be Julius, Alexander, Omar or, God forbid, Microsoft. That would put an end to war.
War Is A Problem That Cannot Be Solved.
Face it: War is here to stay. As long as there are people and they can think for themselves, there will be war. If there were only one person living on each continent, sooner or later, one of them would want someone else’s continent for his or her own. To end war, we would have to end the causes of war. At last count, there were between 50,000 and 100 million causes. That’s the second easiest way to end War.
The easiest would be to kill every last Man, Woman and Child on Earth and start anew. But even that wouldn’t work, for someday, a new race of Man would arise. They probably wouldn’t remember us. By the end of that first new day of this new race, there would have been a dozen robberies, several assaults and at least one murder. These are little things, but as sure as the sun rises, they will lead to War.
The problem? What one element is present in all of these ideas? Man. You cannot eliminate War without taking Man out of the equation. Man may naturally stray away from conflict if given the choice, but once he sets his mind to fighting, he puts his all into it. If we didn’t enjoy it as much as Robert E. Lee says we would, then we would never have made a weapon better than the spear. Mankind enjoys War too much to stop until it hurts one side too much. Too often, the generals and leaders are too removed from the fighting to know when that point has been reached, especially in the 20th century.
“War is all Hell,” said William T. Sherman. It’s also a lot of pleasure, as Sherman’s own men found out as they burned and razed a path from Atlanta to Savannah in the winter of 1864-5. J. Glenn Gray correctly points out that there is a certain segment of any population that loves to kill. Perhaps War is really for them, as an organized method of them running with their primal urges. Thus war could be serving a psychological release as well as a way to pare their numbers down.
The rest of Us go with them to war to keep them company. Without war, they would perhaps become serial killers or worse. Perhaps sports are miniature pretend wars that are needed to keep real wars from breaking out more often. Ironically, during a lull in the fighting at Christmas time on the Western front, two sides stopped shooting and played soccer. One team was French and the other German. A good time was had by all. There was even an exchange of gifts by both sides. The next day, commanders on both sides put an end to such foolishness, and both sides went back to slaughtering each other.
War is not so much a problem as a condition, like some sort of imprinting in our genetic code. It’s probably etched on our DNA next to Love. Can it be eradicated from the Human Soul? No, any more than you could eradicate Greed or Gratitude.