Some Thoughts About War

Meditations on Memorial Day:

Show me a war you think was justified and worthwhile, and I will show  you hundreds that were not, and that were fought for the prestige of a few, with millions of  soldiers goaded on by false ideals and slogans, and in which victory was a fruit enjoyed by those who never fought. We are as accustomed to war as we are to the color of the sky. That the energies and resources of the human race have been so hugely disproportionate in their expense for killing one another seems to shock no one, because it has always been this way.

Exactly what were Napoleon’s goals? Dites-moi, s’il te plait. Oh yes, and what about that glorious conflict known as World War I, set off by the blunders of governmental cretins, accomplished by the deaths of millions, pregnant with the rise of fascism and World War II? Oh, yes. Now I remember. We fought to make the world “safe for democracy.”  That’s what President Wilson told us? Funny, in that case, that one of our allies was the Tsar of Russia, as autocratic an autocrat as one could wish for.

And well before that there were folks like Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan to name a few. What were their motives? Just what was the goal they set as being equivalent to and worth as much and more to the deaths of millions?

Tell me. I am listening.