"There's a peace only to be found on the other side of war," said Sean Connery in "First Knight," but is this statement true? Does war lead to peace? Can bombing the bejesus out of someone one day, bring friendship the next?
Everything in me disagrees with war. I can't even explain how anti-war I am. I have never been in a physical fight with anyone, and the idea of it seems completely ludicrous to me. However, when I started to think about past wars and how things have turned out...maybe there is a certain peace that comes after war.
Let's see. We fought with Great Britain in the 18th century and now they're a close ally. We fought with Germany last century and we're friends now. Japan destroyed a fleet of ships and, in turn, we nuked them. Now we're friends with them too. By the way, I have never and will never condone the use of nuclear weapons; I'm just using it as an example.
I will say though, with our current situation in Iraq, I do not see peace on the other side. It seems as though there's just no hope for peace in the Middle East, but that doesn't mean I don't wish for it everyday. I just don't see how we can make people get along or make people like the United States. I feel like this situation may come out worse than better. I mean, how do you fight terrorism? You knock out a terrorist and another is waiting to take its place. I feel like we're just cutting off the tail of a lizard only to watch it grow back.
So perhaps peace after war only exists if there is a clear cut good guy/bad guy thing, or an exact issue that can be pinpointed. In the Revolutionary War, we didn't want to be taxed without representation. In World War II, well, they bombed us first, but you can't fight something you can't touch or define. Terrorism will always be an issue. My dad always told me, "No matter what kind of fighting you do, you can't beat crazy."
Maybe one day the rulers and politicians of the world will grow up and learn to be the diplomats they were hired to be, but until then, be on the look out for more violence.
So readers, to conclude my piece for peace, I leave you with the following quote from Rodney King: "Can't we all just get along?"
Comments
Jessica commented, on February 6, 2008 at 9:46 p.m.:
I have always been leery of the phrase "War on Terror," because there's no way to fight an abstract concept or ideal.
I don't really think that world peace is possible. There will always be people who subscribe to an extremist viewpoint (on both sides) and the differences in ideology, religion, social status, monetary resources, etc. are perfect starting points for skirmishes. Extremist world leaders who violate basic human rights and perpetrate violence against their own people aren't going away either, and they certainly aren't contributing to world peace.
However, I think it's something to strive for even if it can never be attained. If we, as a community, don't aspire to anything higher than ourselves or our immediate spheres of influence, then things will probably be worse than they currently are.
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