I don’t get War. Not at all.
How can i? I’ve never been to war. I’ve never served as a soldier. Sure, I was a member of the Air Cadet Corps for about 5 years, but that was hardly what I’d call military service. And sure, I’ve watched a lot of war films and anime depicting war of various kinds, but obviously these are all mostly fiction and hardly a true representative of war itself. I even tried to join the military once, before I realised that I could never live that lifestyle.
I don’t agree with War either. Although I guess there are very few people who, hand on heart, would “agree” with war. But some, or indeed many, still feel it is necessary, for whatever reason.
I hate seeing advertisements for recruitment to the military. I hate the pride people have in their armed forces. That’s not to say, however, that I hate the armed forces. Indeed, Military Technology interests me deeply. And I think Soldiers number amongst some of the most dedicated, talented and capable people a nation has to offer.
So why do we send them out to fight in meaningless battles?
I'm no fool. I very much doubt humanity will ever achieve world peace. It is our differences that make each and every human being a wonderful singularity. It is also our differences that cause conflict. As long as one person sees that somebody else is different in a way they don’t agree, there will be conflict. The alternative is a bland formless society with no imagination, no individual thought, none of the things that make humanity great. But the price we have to pay to keep our greatness is that we have to also have the things that make humanity the worst creatures on the planet.
One may argue War is necessary. It’s good for the economy, its great for social and technological advancement. It keeps mankind from overpopulating this tiny planet and completely depleting its ever diminishing resources. And only at the cost of Human Lives.
I hate how religion gets dragged into conflict. I hate that Christians are just as responsible for the slaughter of thousands of their own kind, let alone different religions. I hate how Extremists blow up civilians because their religion tells them they will be rewarded. I hate how one act of hatred begets more and more killing.
I hate how war doesn’t have a point any more. We fought two world wars. People fought to protect our freedom and rights. And now we’re arrogant enough to go barging into another country to protect their “freedoms” and “rights”? No one is invading Britain. No one is invading America, or any of the countries of the E.U or NATO, or the U.N. So why are people still fighting? Why are people still dying?
I love to listen to War Stories. I love to hear about true heroes in every sense of the word. I love the pride of the nation, who refused to bow down to a numerically superior force and eventually turned around and destroyed the largest threat to life as we know it.
I hate how people are so damned proud of “their boys” fighting for “their country”. No one is fighting “for their country”. They’re fighting for someone else’s. They’re killing people. We’re the invaders.
I hate the very real possibility that if we were not fighting in their countries, then they’d be fighting in ours.
I Love and Hate what war can bring out of people. The best and the worst of humanity.
I don’t get War. I don’t get War at all.
And I know shit about what I'm typing here.
At the time of writing, it is Midnight. The 11th of November 2008 has just finished. It marked the 90th Anniversary of the end of the first “great” war.
Remember the Fallen. Remember the survivors. Remember.
Because the War to End ALL Wars…
Didn’t.
