A few months ago I had the privilege to visit a retired aircraft carrier that has been converted into a museum, it was amazing to see. Many of the people working at the museum were veterans and they all had very interesting stories to tell. The aircraft carrier itself was extraordinary. Many questions came to mind, from the technology that went into making it, to the maintenance aspect that made things run smoothly during war. These are just a few of the questions that came to mind when touring the ship. However at the end of the day, in reflection, my final take away was look at how much money we throw at warfare, when our education system is suffering, and people are starving! Now, I feel that it is important to point out that I am appreciative of the people who have fought and continue to fight to keep our country safe and free. People aboard these aircraft carriers today, are simply following orders, but when will it end? We are all one in the same, so we need to stop “othering” people. We all want to be happy, so why do we inflict pain on to others? What is there to gain from killing innocent people?
I was looking online to find exactly how many wars are proceeding today. Check out the link for yourself, and I am sure this link does not mention every conflict. Wars occur when there is conflict, and that conflict is backed up by power and money which results in violent consequences. War is expensive, and it affects people’s lives. When people in power decide to launch an attack on another group of people, they do not stop to think about how this might affect bystanders in the crossfire. If they do stop to think, they do not care enough about the innocent people caught in the middle because they are only thinking about their interests. According to that link, there has been a war going on since the year 1967 … that’s a long 46 years and counting!! Can you imagine, there are generations that are born into warfare, and do not know their lives to be any different, war is their reality.
I turn on the news everyday and hear about different conflicts, where innocent children are being bombed in schools! Young kids cannot even go to school without the fear of dieing. Money SHOULD be spent on setting up the students for success, and not putting fear in their young minds. As corny as it may sound, children are our future, and if all we are teaching them is war then that is what they will pass on. The education system is only one of the countless things that are affected by war, we spend so much money and energy on harming others that we do not realize that we are only harming ourselves. Our future rides on our investments and right now we are investing in war. For example we can spend that money on feeding the hungry. There are people all around the world who go to bed hungry, or have to rummage through a garbage-can to find their next meal. Is this the image we want to invest in?
Aside from the social issues we have created, we are harming our earth. Think about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, EVERY living thing was destroyed because of the radiation. Even today the land still remains useless. People who survived the bombings had to live with long term effects of the radiation exposure, changing their lives for the worst. The people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were living their lives, this was a normal day like any other, people were happy until it all changed in that split second. Their happiness was ripped away by this one bomb. The Allies had the power, and they used it. What did these innocent people have to do with the political issues between Japan and the Allies? What did the US gain from killing innocent bystanders? What did they gain from knowing that they are responsible for the suffering of thousands of people? Who is anyone to crush another’s happiness, much less toy with their lives?
War is an endless cycle, and chances are the parties involved do not even remember what they are fighting about (Shakespeare had it right … The Montagues VS.The Capulets … ringing any bells?) At the end of the day warfare is about power, everyone is trying to prove who is the bravest and the strongest, when in the end all efforts made to “win” cause irreversible damage. For as long as there have been nation-states, there has been a need to assert one’s power. The way to do that is to have control and you gain control through WAR. When will the nation-states stop and say they have enough? We need to step back and realize that we are all HUMAN first, and killing another being is never the answer. It is not about who is wrong and who is right, it is about doing what is humane.This post will not stop wars all together, but it opens up the platform to questioning why we are spending so much time and energy on war and killing our fellow humans. The year is 2014, and science has proven time and time again that we are all the same, the next time someone asks me where I am from or what my race is, my answer will always be, “I am of Earth and a member of the HUMAN race.”
~Live and let live
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