War and peace
Thousands and thousands killed in wars. Soldiers labeled ‘legitimate targets’ and killed civilians referred to as ‘collateral damage’ (if they belong to ‘the enemy’ group). An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Is this the world we want to live in?
Ralph and I have had so many discussions about war and peace for a long time now, and we are convinced that the world needs a mindshift.
We understand the wish to defend oneself when attacked. We also recognise that inherited hatred and fear can make people want to resort to violence. And we think it is perfectly normal to feel rage against evil.
But violence feeds violence. Peace is not achieved by war.
So long as war is regarded as an accepted way of dealing with conflicts, people will continue using this method instead of non-violent approaches. And if there is such a thing as ‘legal’ warfare, there will also be ‘illegal’ warfare. Who decides what is what? Both sides in a conflict will claim that whereas their warfare is legal and therefore justified, the opposite applies to their enemy.
On the principle that all human lives are sacred, our view is that the only way forward is to achieve global disarmament, and to make deliberate killing of humans illegal. Whoever does it. And whoever is the victim.
2 Replies to “War and peace”
Brilliant and robust insight Marie ( and Ralph)
I fervently hope that your beliefs are widely supported and persuade Governments to rethink their aggression and work instead toward sharing opportunities of conciliation and mutual support.
Of course, I share with your idealistic dream and values, but I think we humans are fatally flawed. While individually and communally (sometimes) we can be generous, even magnificent, when we become tribes and nations under ambitious and aggressive leadership, we are too ready to follow and to kill. I don’t see that ever changing – even as we stand on the brink of annihilation after our wasting of the planet – a further folly which we seem incapable of arresting.