Common Sense Observations

War is Ugly – We Should Leave it That Way

“War is ugly” sounds cliché – and it is. You could also put it into the mundane and hackneyed categories. But it’s not as ugly, or at least it is being made to appear not as ugly, and therefore it is becoming more tolerable and accepted.

 

Horrific things happen during wars. It’s just that simple. Civilians are killed. Children are killed. Homes are destroyed. People are maimed. Infrastructures are laid waste. Prisoners are abused. The list is endless. Such horrors as these are reasons that there have not been even more wars.

 

Having lived over sixty years now, I’ve met a lot of people. And I’ve learned that people don’t speed because they’ll get a ticket. I’ve learned that people don’t park wrong because they’ll get a ticket. Fear of repercussions prevents people from doing a great many things. This starts in childhood and goes through adulthood. Only the transgressions and punitive actions change.

 

Most of today’s cultures are trying to make war a more humane event. This has just been made clear again in the war between Hamas in Gaza and Israel. Israel is being condemned for killing innocent civilians in Gaza, and also for not providing more human aid to the people of Gaza. I guess Hamas, if it were more organized and recognized, would also be condemned for rocketing innocent Israelis and storing munitions in residential areas.

 

People are also very upset about the loss of innocent civilian life in Pakistan recently. A US missile strike killed about as many civilians as it did suspected terrorists. Frankly, I understand this one a little better as Pakistan is not formerly at war – certainly not with the US.

 

I don’t think we can shine up and repackage war and make it anything but atrocious. In fact, I think attempts to do so are at the root of some of today’s conflicts/wars. If we leave war as the horrific thing that it is, then perhaps people will stop getting into them so readily.

 

I am reminded of a movie with Peter Sellers: The Mouse That Roared. In the film, a miniscule European nation on the verge of financial collapse decides to start a war with America. The idea being, they know they will lose and that American will then come in and rebuild the country.

 

If situations get to the point where there needs to be a war, then it should be an all out event without the promise of: if we beat you, which we will do humanely, we’ll rebuild you. In Iraq, we continuously put our men and women in harm’s way, all the while rebuilding the country. What a thankless, unrewarding exercise this is. Little wonder suicides in the military are at an all time high.

 

I think it would be great if there were no wars. But since the world is in ever increasing turmoil, and since there’s never been a period of world peace in recorded history, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.

 

Then too, I don’t think most things being called wars really are. We’re not at war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Those ‘conflicts’ are the bastard children of policing actions and random military skirmishes.

 

We should avoid war in all reasonable ways. However, we should not try to make war into something civil and humane. Doing so can only create more wars that last longer.