ShadowMyth’s Archives: War

From the computer archives of ShadowMyth. This piece was written quite a number of years ago, and I am not sure of the exact time period. Some may get their panties in a bunch over the Gandhi comment, as it drew a lot of criticism the first time it was released into the public eye. I repost this today, the day after Army recruiting called to try and enlist my son.

As I was growing up, war was something that was a common theme. Everywhere I looked there were military ads, news on the Vietnam War, war movies, war TV shows, war toys, and conversation regarding it.

My father was a war veteran from the Korean War; I had heard many stories from him of the terrors of war. Regardless of its horrors, war fascinated me. The neighbor boy and I would engage in playing war for hours, and thanks to my parents, I had all the toys and clothes I needed to focus on this fascination.

I remember my camouflage hard hat, the machine gun that made all the cool noises, and the make believe hand grenades that would blow up in our imaginations.

As the years passed however, my views began to change, and I began to really see the horrors involved in war, the truth behind the romance. This distaste for war grew in me, grew to a point of almost phobia. I feared someday having to engage in it, feared the mass destruction of its processes.

It was not that I was against it; I just found it extremely distasteful. Mind you I was not against violence, I am a predator; I understand that we are what we are. War though, war was something that went beyond a one on one battle between warriors, or the killing of animals for food. My fears truly had no words, though I tried to find them.

As time went by, I realized I needed to come to an understanding of this force, come to a decision of what I really felt about it. I realized that if there had never been any war, the world would be a very different place. For one thing if there had never been a war, populations would have increased by now to proportions beyond our ability to sustain, or the world would be so filled with disease and filth to the point we would all wish we were dead.

Another factor is that war has always been the catalyst for change, something mankind is slow to undertake on his/her own. War has brought together cultures that have created new cultures from the ashes of the old, and it has challenged us to be more creative. Many of the inventions we have today came out of war, and now they are applicable to many aspects of our lives that have nothing to do with war.

Perhaps the reasons for war have outlived it’s necessity. Perhaps it is time to evolve toward other methods of dealing with population control, the need for creative drive, and the sustenance war brings in stimulating economic factors. The question is, what could replace something as effective as war? Something that would have a positive stimulating effect, and be accepted by all?

There are too many people who feel that passivity is the answer, when in truth you are creating an effect exact opposite to war. Violence in nature is what makes creatures stronger. Without opposition we have no reason to be strong, just as a rose grows no thorns in a perfect environ. Eventually though, that rose will die if any outside threat makes itself a problem.

In a society envisioned by such people as Gandhi, we would only be living livestock, always prey to something greater, something stronger. When I see in my mind Gandhi and his people marching to their death, I can only wonder at those that believe he was a great man. That is not a great man; a great man is one who died fighting for the survival of his family, and his people. We can exemplify the behavior of such people as Gandhi, but in truth we are only writing our death sentence. In a society without violence of any kind, we will become the very things we supposedly seek to protect, and who will be there to protect us?

Already it is evident that people rely upon government agencies to exact justice for them, but who are these people who play predator for those too weak to exact justice for themselves? What makes it right that they should be your protector? Should they not be subject to the same rules? We cry peace, and yet we call for violence to stop the violence.

We are of nature, nature is violent. How do I look into the face of war, into the face of violence, and embrace it? Because behind it lay the face of nature, it’s powers violent and extreme. I will not deny my birthright; I will not deny its powers. All things in their time, all things that are true.

War without purpose is a tragedy, but war for the necessity of one’s survival is a true blessing. Perhaps those peoples who will not stand up and fight for their right to be, need not be anyway. I just know I want my neighbors and friends to be the kind of people that would stand beside me if I needed them; I know I would be there for them. How far would you go to protect what you love?

[tags]war, pacifism, Gandhi, survival, over population, growth, expansion, creative drive, military, vietnam war, korean war, inventions, war toys, nature, violence, peace, justice, lockergnome, shadowmyth[/tags]