The Violent Journey of Finding Peace

This is not an anti-war statement. This is a survival statement. Since humans first understood discomfort they wanted peace. We have been fighting each other since the dawn of time. We have waged war over the land we walk on, in the air we breathe, and in the seas we swim. We fight for what we want such as water, food, territory, commodities both elemental and fundamental. We fight for a God we have never seen and we fight for beliefs that we sometimes don't really believe in. Each side of a war party sees the other as the offender, the defender of the nefarious, the wicked, and the perverse. Even though our armies grow tired of conflict, we must continue to fight until one side or the other has been vanquished. Our politics, our inherent racism, our perceived personal sacrifice creates a sphere of influence that is clear as day looking from the inside out, but obscure as muddy water when looking from the outside in. So we argue with other spheres. So we will go to war.

How can I fight an enemy who from the time of their first breath of life hates the very essence of who I am? If I leave them alone they will find me. Hunt me down where I live, and where I find my happiness. The enemy is poorly educated but battle hardened and fixated on my annihilation. To protect my peace, I must engage in war. The concept of going to war to achieve peace is not new to mankind. Peace means many different things to many different people. For some peace means living in a complete Utopian society in which their every need is met. To others peace could mean living comfortably with opulence. What about those who view their version of peace as having millions of soldiers and weapons protecting the borders of their country? Should they be any less entitled to their peace?

One could presume that if every single person on planet Earth decided in a single moment to leave each other alone to live in peace then peace might be achieved. I argue that this can never happen. Mankind will never experience peace because the human condition of greed and power must first be quelled; however, the desire to be better than who we are will drive our desire for power and education. Even if every single person earned the same wage, lived in the exact same house as the next, ate the same food, and had the same education we still would not have peace. We would be reduced to a population of drones. It is only a matter of time before the ambition of greatness by a single drone will start the chain reaction of independent thought and individual contentment. Welcome back to war.