I'm not buying this thing called war, and admit I don't totally understand it. Personally, I hesitate to kill mosquitoes and house flies. Or cows, chickens and pigs. Years ago I quit fishing because I didn't like to hook and kill such beautiful creatures.
I cherish life and think that it is precious - all of it. That is why I try to do the least amount of harm possible while I am here.
I believe that most people have a peaceful approach to life, including some military personnel. Take for example Smedley Butler. He was a US Marine Corps Major General that became an anti-war activist at the end of his military career.
In 1934, Bulter wrote a book called War is a Racket from which the following quotes were taken.
"War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
If only more of today's military personnel would realize that they are being used by the owning elites as a publicly subsidized capitalist goon squad.
I believe in adequate defence at the coastline and nothing else."
He was critical of US corporations and Wall Street bankers and the part they play in waging war.
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism."
We have to make things so that waging war is not profitable. That is what Smedley Butler concluded when he said,
“Let the officers and directors of our armament factories, our gun builders and munitions makers and shipbuilders all be conscripted — to get $30 a month, the same wage paid to the lads in the trenches…. Give capital thirty days to think it over and you will learn by that time that there will be no war.
That will stop the racket—that and nothing else.”
A good start would be to not buy war or much of anything else our global system of orchestrated violence has to offer.
Living simply is a good start...but we also need to do more GOOD to turn around the massive machine that is relentlessly trundling along in our name. The question is, what?
ReplyDeleteCharlotte,
Delete"What to do?" is the perpetual question as it seems that all the power, money and influence seems to be on the side of the war mongers.
But we can vote for anti-war politicians, donate money to or volunteer for groups promoting peace, and talk to our friends and coworkers about the importance of cooperation. Most of all, we can model a peaceful approach in our own lives, and educate ourselves as to the true nature of war.
Thanks for the reminder and suggestions. At times I feel so powerless against the big machine, it's comforting to think that small things can begin to make a big change.
DeleteWe will throw a wrench in the machine and it will grind to a halt, never to be started again. I suggest returning to the matriarchy such as it was 6000 years ago. Lets see if that makes a difference.
DeleteThe men in charge are violent in nature and are failing us miserably.