|
“The next most dreadful thing to a battle lost is a battle won” |
Now five years into the second millennium and countless years since the early beginnings of civilized society, human intellect and reason, caring and compassion are at an all time high. World leaders are continually making progress towards cherishing every life as something incredibly precious; the entire world pushes for giving every person in the world the chance to enjoy their existence. Communication and interaction between individuals and groups, made so easy and effortless with our technological progress, is also becoming a pinnacle of today’s society. Problems are recognized and solved with the least amount of friction and conflict, and in turn allows for better and more focused support to countries behind the global standard. Countries everywhere, especially the United States, are committed to preserving this appreciation of human life and peaceful negotiation. Right?
Unfortunately, our world continues to be one in which issues are settled by violence; the option that takes the least amount of intellect to follow, the most primitive action available to us.
What sets humans apart from every other species of animal that inhabit this planet is this intellect that is present in every one of us. Why must we completely ignore this ability we have unique to us? Why is our first instinct always to get the better of a situation and make sure that we are the victors? Why is violence resorted to as a means to solve problems, when we are fully capable of creating a mutually beneficial solution? Why do countries need to have a stockpile of weapons that are capable of destroying human life as we know it, just to feel safe? Why do we continue to act so primitively as to sacrifice life; the greatest, most essential gift to humanity, the one thing we should hold with the most reverence?
Human nature is addicted to success. We are all born with a yearning to succeed, to win; the environment in which we grow and develop then either smothers or augments this quality. With the presence of this lascivious desire in us, intellect and compromise may be set aside in order to gain the quickest road to victory. Like an athlete using performance-enhancing drugs in order to be the best, the world today is setting morality and value aside in order to achieve the best or quickest end.
Winning; or to finish victorious in a competition; in itself means that something, often someone, must have been defeated. To win a race, one will have defeated the competitors that they raced against. To win a battle, one must defeat his enemy. The fact that a battle has been won, therefore, reciprocally means that another party has lost. If violence has been resorted to as a means to solve an issue that presented itself between two groups, defeat will be forced on one of the two. Instead of sitting down and working towards a mutual solution to benefit both parties, using intellect and reason as only humans can do, force was relied upon in order to reach a conclusion. Because of the naïve thought that fighting is the best and most definite solution, loss has been forced on one of the two. Winning the fight symbolized the end of hope for settling the issue the best way for both sides.
Sacrificing mutual agreement to domination is something that plagues today’s world. Far too often are people in our modern, world corrupted into the thought that violence is the best and, even worse, sometimes the only means to solve problems. Our own nation, the flagship of freedom and hero of human rights, has fallen short of these self-proclaimed titles because of this very fact. American society as a whole has become more focused on the superiority of our nation’s status than on the hope of a world that is equal for all and revolving on an axis of peace. We have come to accept violence as a means to an end. So many of our international actions show this. We invade countries after a limited period of weak diplomatic attempts; we build our own arsenal of apocalyptic weapons while ordering the removal of all else’s; we force our image of the perfect society on the rest of the world, resulting in many rebelling and feeling oppressed. We need to push towards goals that will ultimately and indefinitely make the world a better place. Set better standards of compromise and negotiation. Make conscious and progressive attempts towards benefiting every party when an issue arises. Don’t leave any country or group left out in compromise and negotiation. Focus our resources towards raising poverty-stricken countries to self-sufficient levels. Sacrifice pride rather than compassion.
In a society that bases happiness largely upon individual success, one can see how violence can come to be seen as a solution and haunt every corner of the world. So often are we motivated solely by gaining as much as we can. We crave this feeling of superiority that comes with the distinction of being a “winner”. The problem that needs to be corrected lies not with this quality in itself but rather with the means by which we seek it. By placing self-satisfaction in the hands of success, and then in turn ahead of humanity and care for all, violence will continue to be an option “justified” as a method to overcome obstacles. Instead of measuring happiness through success and victory over others, we should be content in seeking victory with others. The battle should not be between us and those who are in the way of our success: it should be within ourselves; between our violent nature and our unique ability to reason and compromise.
Although violence is more so than not used as a way to achieve personal gain, some claim to utilize it as a means to achieve peace. To win peace by fighting is a paradox that cannot and has not ever been achieved. The blood-stained peace that may be boasted about that came from the forceful suppression of “threats” to the common peace is never truly a state of peace and concord. Feelings of hurt will always be left after a battle; someone will always be left unhappy. To suppress and put down through violence and war does not instill a sense of complacency in the loser. It can be seen recurrently throughout or history. The losers of wars are never happy to have lost, they feel a new sense of hate and disdain left within themselves. After World War I, Germany became a breeding ground for anger; open for the Nazi party to take control because of a nationalistic sense of hurt. After World War II, the so-called peace that was achieved was scarred by the new rivalry between capitalistic west and communist east: leading eventually to the cold war. After the Korean War came to an armistice, North Korea was not moved to peace, but rather began its own quest of acquiring nuclear weapons. After the Desert Storm operation came to a close, Saddam Hussein was not moved to complacency and benevolence, but rather a new sense of anti-American sentiment and malcontent. This is a motif repeated endlessly throughout history.
Besides averting to violence and force as the quickest solution to problems, revenge is probably the second most common instinct to humans. In combination, the two create a vicious cycle. A problem is created between two groups, compromise is set aside to violence, one group is victorious and gains all that they sought for in the solution, the other group feels resentment towards the outcome of events; another problem is created. Instead of actively seeking peace through violence and suppression, we need to actively seek a reason based, negotiating method to sustain peace.
This issue of contagious violence, one motivated largely by personal gain or a false image of peace, is one that seems to have taken root deep in our nature as humans. If we wish to create a society that welcomes every individual and is founded on pure equality, we need to first set aside our violent tendencies. If we can successfully abandon our instinct to use sheer force to achieve a “win“, our world will have truly accomplished something to be proud of. The human race will have made an enormous step in the process of creating a world for all. Our sacrifices today are what ill ensure the true peace of tomorrow. Intellect, reason, compromise: they’re what set us apart as humans. Let’s put them to good use.
Rebuttal
|
“Peace
is not a passive but an active virtue. Our Lord never said,
‘blessed are the peaceful’, but ‘blessed are the peacemakers.’ ” |
- Many are not willing to listen to logic and compromise
- Force is the quickest way to solve a problem
- Evil people need to be stopped by any means
- Any way to peace is justified
- Negotiation can fail, get drawn out
- To end violence completely, everyone would have to agree