Actions For Peace

I continue to think about the issue of world peace. I get kidded when I steadfastly answer the question of “What do you want?” and I say over and over again ‘world peace.’ Yes, I say this in jest partially, but mostly I mean it.

Peace is a good thing. Properly made and maintained, peace is a comfort and a joy. After all, peace gives us the freedom to use our assets for good, not war. And war is war when it is hot, and cold when it is defensive to keep peace; but it is still war, just without the bullets flying.

The largest portion of the American annual budget is for military preparedness. We think of it as defense posturing, but such is unrealistic if we don’t imagine how the preparedness would work in a time of hot war. So our preparedness is decidedly capable of hot war conditions using our military. It costs us over $700 billion annually.

Yes, our military preparedness has kept the peace for a long time. Short term skirmishes have broken out from time to time, but these were not all out war. Today we have live skirmishes in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. There are military bases scattered over the globe so we are ready for action at a moment’s notice. The Philippines and Japan are two; so, too, South Korea.

$700 billion. Think of that figure! What could it buy if not used for military purposes?

A lot. A lot of medical care for the billion or so people on the globe without adequate medical care. A lot of food for the 3 billion hungry souls on the face of the earth. A lot of infrastructure for those nations without adequate agriculture capabilities, or for fresh water.

Healthy people are generally happy people. People who are not thirsty or hungry are generally happy as well. People who feel they are able to maintain their own family’s well-being are happy too. Sharing life and cultures throughout the world is rewarding. Helping those same cultures become educated and capable of self sustaining their nations is even more rewarding.

$700 billion. Per year. Spent on basic human needs over time will solve a lot of problems that usually lead nations to war. That is the peace I dream of. Not guns and missiles, but food and water and commerce and jobs. Self sustenance. Self respect. Peace.

$700 billion. Instead we spend this money on war and preparation for war.

I wish this were not so. But it is. There are unfriendly people on the planet who do not mean well for us. So we protect ourselves. We see this as a necessity. And we see mutual aid agreements with other nations as a parallel need as well. We build peace and maintain it with such agreements.

We must ask from time to time, “To what end do we maintain peace?” And the answer? So we can love and be loved. And do good for others.

This is what we have been asked to do by every religion and culture since the beginning of time. Yet we act and live at odds with this answer. Something always leads us off track toward the violence or prevention of same. But prevention assumes violence is a real and present danger.

What a wasteful reality this is.

When might we try peace at last? Or will we only gain lasting peace when the world itself has been destroyed by man’s weakness for violence?

Now there’s a question for the ages.

Anyone care to answer it?

May 24, 2017