On War and Peace
Again
I saw an interesting discussion on Ukraine, Russia and China
today. I am a pacifist. I do not believe in war. Some of the greatest men of our time, indeed
of any time, were opposed to war and violence.
They believed in changing the world by other means, which did not mean
that they weren’t willing to die for their beliefs themselves.
Jesus Christ… Tolstoy… Gandhi… King: these were men of nonviolence.
Over 160,000,000 people died as a result of war in the 20th
century. This is over half the
population of the United States today – dead from war. There are all sorts of arguments for war but
in the end, wars are about territory, money, and power. Period.
I’m not sure any human life is worth any of those things. I am sure 160 million is a high cost, too
high a cost.
I can dink around on the computer and come up with all sorts
of horrible statistics and facts for both sides of the argument. So can you.
Those of you who grew up after the Vietnam War and have not
been in war yourselves, have seen little of war. My generation was treated to up close and
personal press coverage of the Vietnam War.
We saw the bodies, the wounded, and much more every night on the evening
news. We heard the lies the politicians
and generals told us. We saw brave and
good men treated like criminals when they came home. We saw unarmed college students die, shot by
our own soldiers and then we woke up.
War is indeed a form of hell. Ask the men who’ve been
there. I have met few who’d recommend
it. Men still suffer from the stress of
the Vietnam War and it was over forty years ago. I can remember my Uncle Will, who, when I was
a child in the 1960s, still suffered from ‘shell shock’ from his days in the
trenches in WWI. If war has this much
impact on individuals, imagine what it does to a people, to a nation, to the
world.
In my 54 years on this planet, I have seen no good come of
war. I do not expect that to change
anytime soon.
Albert Einstein was often quoted as saying "I know not
with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought
with sticks and stones." If that
doesn’t disturb you and make you think, then there is no hope for you anyway.
To quote John Lennon, all we are saying is give peace a chance.
