To answer the question of whether war is good or bad, you have to choose a side in the war. During World War II, the Allies united against nations like Germany and Japan, nations that were planning to take control of the world and rule it with an iron fist. Most people on the Allies considered Hitler a heretic bent on eradicating the Jews, so they united against someone who they deemed evil. Hitler genuinely thought that he was a messenger from God and that he could cleanse the world of the unclean humans. Both sides of the war thought themselves as heroes, but was there really any? I believe that the Allies were the heroes because we rescued the race of the Jews from being completely exterminated, but I come from a biased stand point. I was raised to believe that discrimination was wrong, but it may have been acceptable back in those times. We think differently now than we did back then.
And then there are the battles when no one handled the situation right. Pilgrims landed in America and exterminated any Native Americans who fought for their land, and the ones that surrendered were treated like animals. The Pilgrims were wrong by ripping the Natives' land away, but the Natives' should not have resorted to violence so quickly.
It's sad to see all the lives lost in pointless wars. Wars that are caused by one person so that they can gain power or destroy others. No, I don't think that war would be necessary if everyone was kind and selfless, but there are ruthless psychopaths out there that are able to convince people to do incredible acts of evil, evil that must be put to an end. War is necessary in an imperfect world, to maintain freedom for our nation, to protect others from hostile forces, or to end an evil that has been left unchecked too long.
War is a curse, but it is ours to bear,
-Elijah Lewis
Elijah - Nice post. I wonder if you have learned about the causes of WWII... Here is an interested thought to ponder: If a nation, or a person, is treated so severely that they feel they have no choice but to defend themselves in any way that they can - are they the evil ones? Are they totally responsible for their actions? If a person, or group, is repressed beyond their ability to raise themselves up, are they responsible for what they do to raise themselves up, or is their repressor in some way also responsible?
ReplyDeleteLet's take a case that is a bit easier to reflect upon. After the slaves were freed in America after our own Civil War, they were treated quite poorly - after decades of being treated poorly. Is that person responsible for their acts, or is their repressor responsible? Hmmmm......