I would venture to say, be bold enough to say, that most of us are a bunch of mealy-mouthed superficial talkers who never think things through. Never to grasp and understand the truth of what is being said and/or demanded. If this is the status quo, to shake hands and then wipe them against one's pants to eliminate the touch of the enemy; to mouth the words of peace and wishes for peace, all the while knowing that the fighting will recommence as soon as all are back in their redoubts, well, what the hell! Why are we wasting all our time in spewing forth words of falsehood and lies which serve to disguise our true intentions and the actions forthcoming, for just that little bit longer. All to give our armies, all our forces that edge which might mean the difference between victory or defeat.
Too many of us deny or ignore, the fact that there is, there are, no winners in war. The loss on and to both sides, the time, energy, and people all represent misspent minds and funds. The excruciating and forever wounds remain, echo down through history, twisted and turned to serve the needs of nations, even of groups within those entities. In reality, there are no winners in a war, and to think otherwise is to lie to oneself.
If one cannot fathom that in reality, who persist in recalling victories of importance in the annals of mankind, think again. The ever roiling of the world with cries urging slaughter; the shouts of ironic claims of victory, even as their land lies about them in huge piles of rubble, and the loss of humanity blatant in the empty streets and at family tables. These are facts hammering down upon us for decades or longer after the supposed peace treaty is signed to end it.
It is at that point that our foresight disappears. All we see before us are the opportunities to wreak revenge upon our foes. To "get” them for all that they have brought upon us with their belligerency and their refusal to compromise - as we see it, not as they see it, nor as we all should see it.
For the truth of that, for the true realities of end of war, all one must do is hark back to England at the end of World War Two. At the end of the war, much of the world lay crumbled and England was among the worst. The hardships which remained after World War One, the "war to end all wars" - not so as one could actually point to the success and truth of that mantra, remained. The hardships and rationing and loss of people, of infrastructure were increased and compounded by the consequences of being a 'winner' in WWII. For many, many years, during, in between and after, even in some cases, until today, England was permanently changed and suffered hardships as if defeated, rather than as one of the nations claiming victory and the rewards of that victory.
Winners and losers confused in reality, and alliances constantly shifting. Certainly not a new phenomenon in the history of humanity and certainly something we have never been able to internalize and understand and rebuild our priorities accordingly.
We all are the losers in a war. We see only our anger and our desire for revenge. At times, many times, that revenge, that intense desire to 'get' someone, something, eats away at us, for so barbaric have been our enemies, so evil, that justice demands their punishment be deep and lasting. We forget that we must leave room for those doves carrying the olive branches to enter, freshen the air and cleanse our minds of all that is negative, all that will only serve to lead to the next war and the next and the next and the next.
Somehow, somewhere we must be able to look within ourselves, within our nations, and find the true peace makers, the true thinkers who know how to balance the needs of the victors along with the needs of the defeated if we are to avoid further war. Further defeat for us all.
If we had understood that principle at the ends of so many wars, we could have avoided the horrors and consequences of those wars we need not have allowed to grow into ugly clouds, darkening the entire world for so many years. Over and over again. Then only to refight those same wars with bits and pieces of change meaning nothing. Only increased bloodletting, more anger and acidity among the nations of the world, and intensifying the negatives of humanity and its greed, always trying to one up the other. Understand how we could have avoided World War Two if we had ended World War One the way it should have been and if we would have avoided compounding the consequences by allowing incompetent statesmen to usher us further into a war which then had nowhere to go, other than having to be fought. Think of the world we could be living in at present if we had averted the horrors, the incomprehensible horrors, of World War Two.
I am neither a peacenik nor a warmonger. In the Bible in the Old Testament we have been instructed to understand the difference between wars which must be fought, no other choice, or those fought only to accumulate wealth, and might There were different rules and different consequences. I understand that; I know that wars must be fought against those who would wreak havoc. Massacre all before them, in the most barbaric manners, and we might be forced to do so again and again and again, never to end. But I also feel that if we stuff up our ears and close our eyes to the entire reality, we will never dig our way out from the deep abyss and chaos of war.
In the Bible in Genesis 23:43 "And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them."
And in the Book of Judges 19:20 "And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street."
we learn of the impetus to peace. Willing it, to gift it, to those we meet. Peace be unto you. We say Shalom. Salaam. Why we continue to say those words and to profess belief in them when all the while we are fingering the weapons behind us, at the ready o wound and slash? Why and wherefore can we not find people capable of understanding, capable of engendering a world where war is not the first, last and always road to follow, to venture into and upon, always with terrible consequences. Even the New Testament, in Luke 24:36 "And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you". reminds us, calls upon us, to know that peace be unto you is what we need to profess and to uphold.
I honor all our brave soldiers, our people who have set aside their own personal needs, left their families and defend their nation. I honor all who knew we had reached the point of no return, no other possibility other than to do what must be done and who then did it at great cost to themselves and to the world. But the necessity was such that it had to be fought.
Would only that we could have avoided that necessity in fair and justified manner. Would that we had devoted those energies, those minds, those funds that drive, to the wishes of peace be unto you. To me and mine as well.
One day we will learn. One day, perhaps, we will study history and wonder what had gone wrong. Why did humanity perpetually choose the wrong fork in the road, fallen off the proper pathways through life? Why have we almost continuously taken the wrong fork, the many wrong forks and roads? Where was the understanding that we humans are indeed capable of using and implementing?
It was certainly not there yesterday.
Not really here today as well.
As for tomorrow, we can only hope and strive.
May the good Lord bless us with that wisdom and strength, that innate knowledge that we can improve and indeed must improve.
When all the people of the world will wish each other -
Peace be unto you.
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