Why We Fight Wars

Just a simple exercise in flawed human reasoning.

So many people cry out about war and how terrible it is...

 

But everyone's willing point fingers of blame, ignore their own faults, and mutually look for any excuse to be affronted or insulted.

 

Maybe if we stopped looking for our mutual differences, and stopped springing into action at every turn because our mundane and meaningless existences bore us, we wouldn't have such a problem. Here's a few examples.

 

A: I like your outfit.

 

B: You're saying you don't like my other outfits. I hate you.

 

 

A: I worship God X.

 

B: I worship God Y, which is a different name for God X, but that must mean that you hate my God, and as a direct result, you either directly or indirectly hate me. Therefore; I hate you. If I hate you, I wouldn't mind if you died. I wouldn't mind if somehow I indirectly was involved in your death.

 

 

A: I like person W. I don't really agree with person U.

 

B: You disagree with me, you obviously are trying to violate my rights, I should take to the streets and take up arms against you, because that's my right.

 

 

A: I am person R. I have a message of peace.

 

B: Holy s**t! You're a terrorist! Kill the infidel! Peace = proxy war and proxy war = an assault of my man/woman/both/neither/hood.

 

 

So as we see, people unintentionally eye poke us, make us butthurt, or say things outrightly that we don't agree with or find offensive. Most of the time, we misinterpret what is being said to us, and immediately find offense. There's a simple resolution: ask "why?" THAT should be the first response, not the emotionally charged immediate defensive stance that is the default reaction position taken by the unwitted. A common refutation of this argument is represented in the following:

 

A: I don't like group of people X.

 

B: Why?

 

A: Because they smell, they look funny, and they're incapable of reason.

 

B: Prove it.

 

A: Die!

 

 

We've all encountered this experience. From both perspectives. We've been the ones hurling prejudices and we've had them thrown at us. We have to own up to it in both directions. Guess what, under the 1st Ammendment, person A and person B both have the right to say what they want to say. If person A says something and person B shoots them, person B does not have the right to shoot person A. But, and this is a big but, person A has the RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that they are willing to accept the consequences of their decisions and statements. History shows us 16,000,000,000,000 examples of people saying -------------- (<insert any phrase here) and blaming the results on other people.  Adherents to that statement call them visionary, opponents of that statement call them traitors.

 

I lost a friend today because they misinterpreted what I said. They blamed me for their misinterpretation because I apparently didn't word something the exact way that would have been easiest for them to understand. After explaining the true meaning of what I said, they were still mad because they had incensed themselves over their misinterpretation and there was no way to derail the speeding train of misinformation that they were captaining down a ravine with a blown out bridge.

 

So I'm starting here, and accepting the responsibility of what I said. I didn't mean it to be offensive, but it came across that way. I made a mistake (unaware of it being a touchy subject) and am accepting the scrutiny and the loss of the friendship. Is it that hard? No. As a leader of Soldiers in a warzone, I learned that there are things worth getting upset over (higher leaders carelessly and needlessly endangering the welfare of your subordinates) and things that are not worth getting upset over (you said something that hurt my feelings *wah*).

 

When you've got rockets flying over your head with the sole intent of KILLING YOU, and you know your contemporaries are having limbs blown off their torsoes, people you eat with are cooking alive inside upturned vehicles, and people you're trying to help are sneeking knives into your facility to knife YOU (you being the leader that everyone knows is in charge and would make the best target) up with, then you can talk to me about what is important in the realm of understanding.

 

How should this have gone?

 

Person A: You said something that I interpret as being insulting.

 

Person B: I'm sorry, that was not my intent. Please accept a humble and heartfelt apology for my mispoken sentiment.

 

Person A: Oh, really? Its okay then.

 

Person A and person B go drink a beer together and forget said incident ever occurred.

 

Be kind and understanding of one another. For what is more important in life than loving and caring for your fellow man? Nothing, I'd wager.

Author's Note

Sorry, a bit "stream of conscious"-y but I was really bothered by this all morning.

Reviews

[Danielle Wesley]

I think you should genuinely write editorial pieces; you have a very poignant way of getting your point across. I agree completely with what you're saying but even aside from my own opinion, the points you made are stark and real. I tend to enjoy a bit of "stream of conscious" as most amazing writing comes from a place of abandon. I also loved that you wove a bit of humor into this piece - loved the outfit example.

[Irish_Ranger]

You rock, man. I agree wholeheartedly, and as usual this was an excellently-written piece by you. People need to seriously get over themselves. However, so many have yet to evolve (mentally) past the caveman days of "You walk on my land! I howl and wave large stick at you!"