This remembrance day I had the opportunity to listen to some deep track song themes on Sirius XM radio.  A number of lyrics really caught my attention relative to a number of philosophical questions.

One interesting thought was without war there can be no peace.  Or to turn it around peace requires us to wage wars so we can reach peace.   Yikes, a scary thought, if peace is an outcome of the war then I don’t need it.

Without Soldiers

Another fascinating concept was contained in the Buffy St. Marie epic “Universal Soldier”.  The basic theme was without the soldier there can be no war.

Simply put, soldiers are the instrument of war.  If they do not exist we could not wage war.  There would be no-one to attack or defend.  Kind of along the lines of “What if we held a war and no-one came?” There would be no war.

Manufactured Goals

A further aspect highlighted during the musical theme was the focus on the objectives of the war.    The winner’s goals become righteous objectives simply because they won while losers are evil.

Without war, this arbitrary definition of right and wrong becomes a collaborative negotiation with the ultimate goals being a win-win.  That is to negotiate something that leads to good for everyone.  War does not allow for this kind of result.

So really, as highlighted by the Edwin Starr song title “War, (What is it good for?).

Remembering

Remembering those that have fallen in past conflicts is truly a noble exercise.  No life should be ended through murder (in essence soldiers are sanctioned, murderers.)

For those that have been forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, I am deeply saddened and do believe should be honoured but ultimately, the main question is why does war exist in the first place?