As remembrance day approaches I recall the poem I wrote in grade twelve.  It was published in the school newspaper and then again in the school annual for that year.  Remember this was the early seventies when I wrote this (probably still resonates today though)

The Poem

Lucky

Oh aren’t we lucky

Living as we do

Between the second world war to end wars

And the coming third world war

Which will!

Remembrance day is not directly about war, but remembering those who fought in wars .  I cannot argue this is important and worthwhile.  I wonder though why we need to fight wars at all.

Wars are basically people killing people both purposely and as effectively as they can.  Human history is littered with aimless conflicts.  I say aimless because I struggle with associating any real value with war.   Soldiers are a key component of these conflicts, no soldiers, no wars.

Peacekeepers

One key problem is if one side has soldiers who can take control by force and the other side has no protection, they will probably lose all (unless they have Samson to defend them).  So, we need armies and soldiers to keep the peace.   Unfortunately, this practice in itself sustains the ability to wage war.

What if there were no conflicts.  What if life was not only considered sacred but the taking of others life unthinkable/ impossible to do.

This is a utopia and in the words of John Lennon something we can “Imagine”.  If we can imagine it we should be able to make it happen.  Probably much easier to dream than make a reality but not impossible.

Remembrance

So while I honor those who have fought, who have sacrificed much, in defense of a cause.   I wonder though “why can’t we all just be friends”.   This is another reference to a song by the ironically named pop rock group “War”.