Notes on 'Never Ending War'

Why does there always need to be war? From small things like departmental debates on how to conduct outreach, to larger debates dealing with breaking old ways and abolishing slavery, people just can't seem to compromise. Imagine the world without war. Cliche hippy talk, I realize this. But humor yourself, entertain me, and just imagine a world where we'd actually learn to compromise. Is it because of sin that our minds fail to realize all the solutions? Is it that we are so close-minded that we have and will always fail to see more than just our own side as the only option? What would the world be like without the stubborn attitudes of those who just won't cooperate?

I can tell you one thing: we'd have a lot more people on this earth, more than the project seven billion by the end of this year. Perhaps, as sick as it sounds, population control has to do with the necessity of wars (along with disease, mutations, malnutrition, etc.) In a perfect world, we'd have all the food our hearts and bellies could ever desire, no disease-carrying protists and insects, wonderful weather year round, and people that had the immediate action of compromise rather than raising fists or signing parchments that agreed to a however-many year long battle to fight it out.

All of these wars, something that seems so necessary in history classes, all seem to blend into one big mess to me. They're all the same, all about the same general idea, no matter how 'remarkable' a certain battle was. It doesn't matter to me who valiantly marched into battle single handed or did something totally taboo that no one would have thought any soul could muster. People are still dying everywhere on one side or another. And who is to say who is good and who is evil? Especially with the Civil War, we think now, with our modern, liberal and very politically correct minds that slavery was horrible and inhumane and I would never partake in something as cruel as that. But really, do you know that? Do you have any clue what you would or would not have done back then if you didn't have the knowledge you have in today's era? Then possibly, your opinion might alter, you might side with the South's decision on keeping slavery. Things are always relative in the cases of good and evil, it seems, especially in war.

But let me be frank: death will always be evil. You are stealing away a life, the worst of human crimes. Is it because of money, because you couldn't work things out diplomatically, or at least you thought? There has got to be a better solution than blood shed. I still have hope.