What is it good for?-Noah Welch

     War.  This word spells destruction, death, and misery for millions of people. However this word can bring hope and prosperity to others (i.e. merchants who sell goods to soldiers). Nothing is more glorified or more loathed than any other event. Poems, stories and legends have been created speaking of the glory or the infamy of war.

      Going to war is a challenging and critical decision and I am glad that I will never have to make it. However it must be seen that sometimes war is inevitable. Compromise, treaties, and words are all wonderful tools for preventing war but unfortunately these tools fail on occasion. An example of this instance would be the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  In these horrible cases, war must and should be joined. It should be joined with a righteous and just fury upon the enemies of the country.  The people should unite, put aside their differences and help defeat their foe.

      Now that we know that sometimes war is inevitable, we must determine when a war is just. However that is a convoluted matter that will never exactly be answered.  Wars can be just in the eyes of both sides. An expansionist nation and a defensive city state will have differing views and opinions about war. Since winners write the history books the just side is the one that wins, no matter the cause.  We can see this in our own Revolutionary War. If we lost that war, we as a nation would be labeled as traitors and criminals that deserve no mercy. However since we won, Great Britain was our oppressor who tried to force unwanted taxes on Americans.

      This broad overarching topic cannot be fit into a box but in the end it boils down to two main schools of thought. Do you believe Aristotle when he stated, “ we make war that we may live in peace”; or do you believe Cicero who stated , “an unjust peace is better than a just war.”?