We don’t want a war people. We don’t. Not ever.
I normally try to keep it light here. You know. Like last night I wrote about the total annihilation of planet earth. Yet tonight, I simply have to write about this topic of war because it is heavy on my mind.
I recently had a conversation with a couple of people and the topic of North Korea came up. Both of the gentlemen, were like…. “Well, yeah. Trump just needs to go in there and kick his @ss. Teach him a lesson.”
Wrong answer for me. We don’t want a war. Not anywhere or anyhow.
I watched a segment on 60 Minutes tonight. If you didn’t see the piece about Nazi Germany, you should stream it. The story was about one of the prosecuting attorneys during the Nuremberg Trials. In fact, he was the lead attorney on Trial Number Nine.
The case involved twenty-two SS Officer accused of crimes against humanity. They were responsible for leading the surge on the eastern front, which accounted for more than a million deaths of Jewish civilians. They did not die in concentration camps, but by firing squad, mostly.
Each of the SS Officers plead not guilty. Yet the prosecution had in evidence, detailed reports which described the circumstances and locations of the killings. These reports were written and signed by each of the 22 SS Officers.
There was a film clip. Everyone should have to watch it. This showed the German soldiers herding these Jewish people into a deep trench. Their backs were then turned, and a firing squad gunned them down, right there in the trench. It was gut-wrenching. Truckload, after truckload of humans, murdered.
Why? There is no reason why. No reason, whatsoever.
But the most affecting part of the segment was the lawyer. His name is Ben Ferencz and he is 97 years old. He was 27 when he acted as lead attorney against those 22 Einsatzgruppen Nazi death squad leaders.
When asked if the men he faced in the trial were savage beasts, murderers, complete-evil, he said something along these lines: “Would you call the pilots of the plane who dropped the nuclear bombs during World War II savage beasts? No. You see, here is what I have learned about war. War makes murderers out of otherwise seemingly good people.”
War makes murderers out of good people.
And no truer words.
These days, Mr. Ferencz is very active in thwarting wars on the world front. He says peace is the answer and I would agree. How do we get there? He works with people on many different levels trying to find peaceful solutions.
I don’t really have any positive spin to write concerning the topic of war.
I simply know that war isn’t the answer.
However, I am pretty sure that peace IS the answer. We know, each of us, in our hearts, the feeling of peace. It is, by far, one of the most incredible feelings in the world…. to know peace.
On the world front, it seems like it is out of our control. That we have no influence in the decisions being made at the National level.
Yet, every day, we do have control of one thing. That, is ourselves. We can choose peace in everything we do.
And somehow, I think, that will help.
============
“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”
― Fred Rogers
===========
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
― Albert Einstein
============
“How come we play war and not peace?”
“Too few role models.”
― Bill Watterson
===========