In Search Of Peace

Deborah Venable

01/18/07

 

I’ve heard it said that Americans are “war weary” and for this reason, support for President Bush and his policies in Iraq and elsewhere is at an all-time low.  His speech last week outlining a new approach in Iraq was met with more accusations of Bush’s inadequacies as a leader and threats from Democrats clinging to their tenuous majority in Congress to do everything in their power to insure Bush’s failure. 

 

Since when does insuring the failure of the President of the United States of America not involve disrupting the security of our homeland?  Is anyone bothering to ask that question?

 

So, Americans are “war weary” are they?  I have no doubt that many, many Americans are justifiably war weary.  Those brave souls in our all volunteer military who have carried the load for the rest of us – fighting in those far away places against ungodly enemies – yes, I’m sure they ARE war weary.  Military families left here to worry every day about the safety of their loved ones – seeing them off and welcoming them home, sometimes having to deal with life changing consequences of terrible injuries – yes, I’m sure these people are very war weary.  As for the rest of us, unscathed by the trauma and afflictions of personally fighting a war, how dare we make the claim of being “war weary”!

 

The only other person that would have a perfect right to claim any war weariness would be the Commander In Chief.  Though accused of being a “war monger”, his motivations seem clear to anyone not poisoned with the Bush hatred syndrome.  He seeks peace and security for the country he loves.  Those motives are pure to say the least, so why would anyone seek to taint the man’s actions with sinister intent?  The only logical answer is to insure a selfish political victory – peace be damned, security be damned, logic be damned.

 

We are little better than the warring factions in all the war torn countries of the Middle East!  It has been said that the war on terror is a more ideological war than any we have ever known.  To that I say all wars are ideological if the true prize being sought is peace.  So what are the components of peace?  Most would agree that happiness usually accompanies peace in its truest form.  So the main component of peace, then, is whatever makes people happy.  Therein lies the folly of the search for peace.  Sad but true nonetheless.  Human beings just cannot seem to agree on what makes us all happy.  If we could latch on to one common denominator for happiness for all, we would be a lot closer to having the peace we all say we want.

 

Is there anything in life that touches the heart of the most evil among us with the same intensity that it touches the purest of human spirits with happiness?  That, perhaps, should be the object of our search. 

 

I believe that happiness is the result of an unexpected positive event and the ability to appreciate the positive things in one’s life.  I also believe that happiness is best achieved and appreciated through unselfishness.  These are not just feelings I have, but knowledge that I have acquired through the observance of life. 

 

In order for life to begin, selfishness is required – life is constantly at war to get started.  Only the fit survive the battle to provide the spark of life.  But once life has begun, the only way for it to grow is for it to receive the nurturing of unselfishness.  Life must, quite literally, learn to share.  One only needs to observe a human baby to know that, innocent as it is, the baby is the most selfish life on earth.  I’ve had people blanche at that statement and disagree with me vehemently, but I stand by it.  Unselfishness must be learned – selfishness comes naturally.  Selfishness never breeds pure happiness, but unselfishness always does. 

 

So, the most evil among us never learned the important lessons of unselfishness.  They are still in life’s natural state – the self-preservation state of me first.  They accept substitutes for happiness because they don’t know any better.  The search for peace, therefore, would require that evil be conquered or eliminated in order for peace to prevail and happiness to reign.

 

One train of thought on trying to understand the goals of terrorists is that their only goal is to cause as much terror and discontent in the world as they can, for in doing so they will somehow sell the idea of peace through submission to one culture, one ideal and one god.  Only the god they want everyone to submit to is man-made in this case because no one is allowed to find his own way to this god.  For most of human history people have been trying to wield power through a god of some sort – using terror to do it.  This really is not a new thing.  It is very primitive thinking.  The more primitive, the more selfish, and the more selfish, the more dangerous – these people cannot be reasoned with. 

 

I find it odd, in these enlightened times of ours, that so many supposedly intelligent people have bought into the illusion that a live and let live scenario is our only chance for peace with terrorists.  However, in our own “free” country, more and more people seem convinced that a live and let live philosophy in our daily lives needs to be legislated away to preserve peace.  We’ve picked up a lot of pointers from our adversaries in this war on terror.  Those with power seem to want more power and the tool of choice for acquiring it seems to be terror.  Okay, maybe not the throat slitting variety of our primitive counterparts, but terror nonetheless.

 

The rule of law is their terror-wielding god, only the rule of law has grown to be quite a monster in this 21st century.  What should be insuring our freedom and pursuit of happiness is now threatening our very existence as a peace loving society.  The “terrorists” are winning – all in the name of seeking more and more power.

 

The primitive terrorists that continue to threaten us all over the globe do not frighten me nearly as much as the local ones – those who are not so primitive, but just as selfish.  If a law threatens unselfishness, it threatens peace.  If a law takes freedom from one deserving of it and puts power in the hands of the undeserving, it threatens peace.  If a law seeks to disarm the “peacekeepers” and force submission of the individual to the will of the collective, then it won’t matter what the primitive terrorists do to us.  We won’t find any happiness and our search for peace will be fruitless.

 

Whether we are defending our own borders or taking the fight with primitive terrorists to their own lands of origin, we must be allowed to beat back the animal of foisted selfish power with our individual unselfish faith and find our happiness in securing our own peace.  Why is that so hard to understand and accept?    

 

 

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