War and violence are unjustifiable. This ought to be the default state of human reasoning. Not a religious doctrine or ideology scholars earn Ph.Ds. in. It should not even be something people sit around to argue about. Humans by nature love their dear lives and will do everything in their power to protect it. Is it not ironical that in an effort to do this we act in a way that destroys the life and freedom of others and leaves us perpetually at risk of same in a never ending cycle of hate and bloodbath?
War destroys. That’s its very essence. It is wasteful and hardly solves any problems. Where it does appear to solve the problem that instigated it, it leaves in its trail other problems, often of graver consequence than the precursor. Violence begets violence. Quite simply, the invention of war is one of mankind’s greatest blunders. That we continue to let it destroy us makes the blunder something of a self-inflicted plague…in present continuous tense.
The most popular argument by warmongers is that there are some conflicts that are just irreconcilable. Oh well, how successful has it been in ensuring the world is less violent or how much more secure does it makes us feel? Because wars are a contest between two or more parties, the spoils enjoyed from it are at the expense of others. For example, war may bring a sort of freedom to one group of people, but it takes away those of others. Look what we’ve done to the world. Look how we’ve put the lives of human beings down to the decisions of politicians, lunatics and religious fanatics. With the outbreak of every new war, civil unrest or terrorist attack, we weaken the universal brotherhood of mankind and sink the world deeper into grief. The world mourns.
From South Sudan to Central African Republic, to Somalia. From the confusion in Libya and Yemen to the killing fields of ISIS’s Iraq and Syria. There is always some bomb blast in Afghanistan and Pakistan every other day. Senseless violence led to the shooting down of a passenger plane last year and no one has been arrested for it. The northeast of my country is a theatre of blood bath. Every once in a while some deranged fellow gets hold of a gun and unleashes his demons on innocent people. Yes, this happens even in the most developed of societies. Then a new lunatic emerges on the scene professing some new ideology and willing followers are never in short supply. The Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, LRA, name them. These are vivid examples of how hatred begets hatred and violence does nothing but fuel the flames.
The irony is this; the side that wins a war is not necessarily the one with the most justification, but the one with the greatest power. And even more, wars never truly end. Long after the truce or the victory by the stronger party, the war continues…in the hearts of those who fought it, in the scars it leaves before our eyes, in the seeds of vengeance that it sows.
We should all be pacifists. Our world needs a breath of fresh air, to heal it, to ends its mourning. There are not enough voices speaking for peace or for ways to promote it. With the level of sophistication in the world today, we should have been able to devise better ways to solve our problems. But it’s not so much about sophistication. It’s a matter of common sense. War and violence make no sense. We are all victims of them.
First published here
Image Credit: ragingbuddha.net
Over 20 years later, the essay is still actuality.