Assignment 9: Anne Douglas

Why war?

War has been an unfortunate occurrence amongst humans since the beginning of recorded history. But it isn't something we should just accept as an inevitability of the human experience. It destroys lives, devastates communities, tears families apart. Although war is overall destructive to everyone involved (also seemingly uninvolved persons are affected), it might not be something we can avoid. At least without total transformation of society as we know it.

War is how we change society. When something is unsatisfactory to someone (or some nation) that has the power to change it, war erupts. I understand that this is an extremely oversimplification of the issue, but it is sufficient. Things aren't working-fix it. Though war is anything but easy, it is often the easiest solution. Rather than compromising, or viewing things through different perspectives, we often settle with violence. The results are catastrophic.

How do we fix this? I don't have the answers. Frankly I am extremely unqualified to elaborate on such a complicated issue, but thats okay. Its important for normal people to become involved in major issues because thats how we, as a whole, enact change. Implicit acceptance of how your live is leads to apathy and complacency, the two key ingredients to a dysfunctional society.