11 November 2008
This is Steven Petrick Posting.
Today is the eleventh day of November. It is both a day of celebration, and a day of somber melancholy. It is a day of celebration because it commemorates the end of one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century. At the time it was known as "The War to End All Wars", but in a little over a generation it would become known as "The First World War". It is a day of somber melancholy for all the lives lost, and the destruction wrought across the world. Most Americans do not realize that the fighting took place not just in the confrontation between the Entente powers, whom we joined, against the Allied powers, who became our enemies across no man's land in France. Fighting raged in Italy, Turkey, Palestine, across the broad sweep of the plains of Russia, and in the Jungles of Africa. The Warships would, in the opening days of the conflict, blast one another to red ruin off the coasts of South America and in Asiatic waters.
War and conflict has ever been part of the human experience. And you cannot fault anyone for wishing that the world would be at peace, that we could "Study War No More", but you can and should fault their naivete. War and conflict are simply smaller human faults writ large. You can no more unilaterally disband the military forces of a nation and say "we will not fight any longer" and expect other avaricious nations to respect your stance than you can disband a city's police force and expect that crime will stop simply because there are no police to combat it.
Aggression is never something that can be rewarded. You cannot no more expect an aggressive nation to stop being aggressive by wagging your finger at it then you can expect a bully or a mugger to back off simply because you are appealing to his better nature. Again, war is human faults writ large. You cannot really end war as long as mankind is divided.
And division is not simply a matter of one government controlling the world. There will always be those who will see theft, or violence, as the best way to improve their own lot in life. Just as the mugger gains long term benefit for short term violence (the contents of your wallet takes him a few minutes of actual effort but may allow him to take the next week or so off). Unify the world and there will be insurgencies, both for material reasons and the merely social (do you really believe a unified world government that is not forcing everyone to practice Wahhabi Islam would be acceptable to Osama bin Laden and his crew?).
So for today, remember those that suffered in the wars of the past, and the war of the present. Not just those who did their duty and now lie entombed in forgotten fields and the ocean's depths across this globe, but those whose lives were forever shattered by the sheer horror that is war. Without their courage and willingness to place themselves between war's devastation and home and hearth we would not enjoy the freedom and safety most of us take for granted.
Today is the eleventh day of November. It is both a day of celebration, and a day of somber melancholy. It is a day of celebration because it commemorates the end of one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century. At the time it was known as "The War to End All Wars", but in a little over a generation it would become known as "The First World War". It is a day of somber melancholy for all the lives lost, and the destruction wrought across the world. Most Americans do not realize that the fighting took place not just in the confrontation between the Entente powers, whom we joined, against the Allied powers, who became our enemies across no man's land in France. Fighting raged in Italy, Turkey, Palestine, across the broad sweep of the plains of Russia, and in the Jungles of Africa. The Warships would, in the opening days of the conflict, blast one another to red ruin off the coasts of South America and in Asiatic waters.
War and conflict has ever been part of the human experience. And you cannot fault anyone for wishing that the world would be at peace, that we could "Study War No More", but you can and should fault their naivete. War and conflict are simply smaller human faults writ large. You can no more unilaterally disband the military forces of a nation and say "we will not fight any longer" and expect other avaricious nations to respect your stance than you can disband a city's police force and expect that crime will stop simply because there are no police to combat it.
Aggression is never something that can be rewarded. You cannot no more expect an aggressive nation to stop being aggressive by wagging your finger at it then you can expect a bully or a mugger to back off simply because you are appealing to his better nature. Again, war is human faults writ large. You cannot really end war as long as mankind is divided.
And division is not simply a matter of one government controlling the world. There will always be those who will see theft, or violence, as the best way to improve their own lot in life. Just as the mugger gains long term benefit for short term violence (the contents of your wallet takes him a few minutes of actual effort but may allow him to take the next week or so off). Unify the world and there will be insurgencies, both for material reasons and the merely social (do you really believe a unified world government that is not forcing everyone to practice Wahhabi Islam would be acceptable to Osama bin Laden and his crew?).
So for today, remember those that suffered in the wars of the past, and the war of the present. Not just those who did their duty and now lie entombed in forgotten fields and the ocean's depths across this globe, but those whose lives were forever shattered by the sheer horror that is war. Without their courage and willingness to place themselves between war's devastation and home and hearth we would not enjoy the freedom and safety most of us take for granted.
posted by Federation Commander at 9:26 AM
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