What is it good for?- Anne Russell

WhAt is it good foR?

I once stumbled upon a thought provoking picture that emphasized those three letters with blood instead of mere capitalization. I thought it made a good point. It is certainly an excellent question-one that is often overlooked.

War seems to be one of those topics that we gloss over in history class, like slavery. We refer to it as a mere collection of dates and leaders and winners and losers. We have so desensitized ourselves to the word that it often loses its significance. We forget that throughout our history, millions upon millions have been killed as a direct result of war, not to mention the great stress it places on countries as a whole. It is terrifying, dangerous, and deadly.

For those reasons I believe it should be avoided as much as possible.

However, I am not a pacifist to the extent that involves letting a country stand defenseless in the face of attack or invasion. The effects of that could be more deadly than fighting back.

I believe war is necessary only in the context of defense. If your country or your country's allies are being attacked, it is necessary and honorable to fight in order to protect your country and its people. But in any other context, I don't believe war is the proper way to solve problems. Any method that doesn't involve mass slaughter is far better than mindless violence, even when fighting for something in which you strongly believe.

Unless you are on the defense against another country that is on the attack, I feel that war is simply unnecessary.