2300 B.C., Sargon the
Great launched a campaign of military conquest that united all of Mesopotamia.
In the cradle of civilization, the fertile "land between the two
rivers," the first military dictator rose. Since humans first organized
into the most basic of civilizations, a single steady constant has existed to
this day; war. From the first primal clashing to the present, the world has
been in a perpetual state of war. Whether it be civil unrest in a country you
didn’t even know existed, or the grand theater of World War II, man never
ceases spilling his brother’s blood. Though few argue against the atrocity of
war, even fewer believe that true peace is attainable.
“Why can’t we all just
get along?” Begs the blind optimist.
“War is in your blood,
flooding your veins!” replies history.
War is deeply tragic. Sadly,
until the Sun ceases to rise and set, war will exist, just as it has for
millennia. How do you think the countries of today will react when their fossil
fuels run dry? When their people are starving? When they realize that wealth is
lovely, but you can’t eat money? The same way humans have for countless years;
with sticks and stones, not open arms and minds.
Brilliant insight you have provided onto the subject of war. I have heard once before that war is often driven by one, simple ideal that everyone is capable of: the desire for gain. In the case of the villainous people who wage war, they wage it with the intent of stealing something for their self-benefit. As for the "war heroes" of the world, they wage it to defend, get back, or achieve something that is of righteous value, such as the Revolutionary War waged for freedom against an oppressive king. But with the current circumstances of today's world, it is often difficult to distinguish what the kings' true ambitions are for waging war.
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