No war is a good war. At times, we have acted no better than our worst enemy. We are not blameless. We denied the Holocaust, for instance, choosing instead not to believe the evidence, which mounted. Again we denied the genocide in Rwanda, choosing not to believe what was happening. And still we close our eyes and ears to the ongoing atrocities and slaughter in Africa--Darfur, the Congo--and elsewhere around the world.
What is worse, war has not stopped the struggle for wealth and control. Secret wars still go on behind political posturing, each world power seeking intelligence it can use against the other, manipulating events, and in the end, creating more terror and worse horrors for the innocent who never know why they’ve been sacrificed, or for what cause. And now with an economic depression compressing the world, more and more suffering is brought to bear on everyone, everywhere.
And then there are the lives of the men and women we sacrifice in our military forces in the interest of preserving our freedom(s) at home. They believe in their missions and their fellow soldier. It's difficult not to when your boots are on the ground and you, with your buddy beside you, can see that you are the only ones making a difference in someone else's life. That's the hook that keeps aid volunteers and military forces continually in harm's way. They see how much their care matters.
Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all victims of war--whether here or abroad, whether political or economical, while greed races to accumulate more power. Right now, dreams of peace and hope grow ever dimmer for a great portion of humanity as we circle our wagons to protect our own. Instead of reaching out, we turn in. It's the nature of survival.
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