Remember.War is failure.Wage peace.
I grew up with the ever-present fear that there would be a nuclear war that would annihilate humanity. My adult life has been spent against a background of terrorism and international conflict. As a child I longed for an end to war and fear and believed that it would happen in my lifetime; ’surely people would see sense?’ Over the years I’ve heard this sentiment many times from young and old. Yet, it seems, we are still very far from abolishing war. There are huge vested interests in perpetuating the ‘war machine’ and, I believe the desire to destroy those that are designated an ‘enemy’ arises from our deep seated animal instincts writ large in the societal structures we’ve created and support with our labour. I’ve been fortunate, so far, never to have been pulled into a war. We are told at this time every year that we live in freedom. Yet I live in a country gripped by paroxysms of fear, hatred and loathing of those perceived as threats. My views are derided as unrealistic, appeasing and even cowardly yet I go on believing that with all our intelligence, skill and humanity we really could find a better way to manage our affairs. Why is it wrong to seek to move beyond a point where the ‘answer’ to a problem is to unleash violence? How do we get to a position where the people we give power to are the sort of people who will invent a new way to conduct our affairs which doesn’t include violence?
Are we really free?
Is war more attractive than peace?