If it would make a difference

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Yesterday evening while tending supper (wild hog steaks! oooooo...) and reading, I listened to an NPR report on a soldier who lived to come home from Afghanistan.

cept I have no hair

The more I listened, the more angry I got.

By the time the story was over I was near boiling and near tears at the same time.

If I could take out those responsible for war and it would change things, I would. By take out I do not mean escort them to a restaurant or the movies. You can use your imagination from here.

You say the cost to me for such an action is immeasurable.

I say if my actions could end war for all time, then yes, the cost would be immeasurable. There's no way to measure something infinitely small. But, I know that no matter what I do, it won't be enough.

Lemme interject here - I support our troops. 100 percent. I do not support the wars they are engaged in.

In the realms of Science Fiction, I occasionally come across stories where a group of peaceful scientists take control of earth's orbits and end war. They end war by creating unstoppable forces to rain down on those who would create war. Other stories bring in alien races which try to enforce peace on earth.

War! And what did this girl do to merit Napalm?

Neither works long term. The utopia quickly degenerates to dystopia because of man. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power also abhors a vacuum. Truth. (A truth which the anarchist crowd refuses to accept, despite thousands of years of human history.)

The only thing, in Science Fiction and sadly in real life which manages to unite humanity and cause us to put aside internal differences is a threat from outsiders. In Afghanistan, the tribes have been at war for millennia. The only thing which makes them stop killing each other is a foreign invader. Even then, those who side with the invader are killed.

War.

As long as people are willing to resort to violence to achieve their goal and settle arguments we will have it. As long as a power vacuum will be filled, we will have it. As long as people are willing to accept the destruction of innocent lives, we will have it.

Sic vis pacem para bellum.