IN WAR, WE FIND OUT WHO WE ARE

 



“Older men declare war.

But, it’s youth that must fight and die.”

Herbert Hoover

 

So many of my relatives (including the families of my two brothers), friends and students – past and present – live in the Middle East countries. And, as the war has broken out, they find themselves caught up in a frightening situation...

The first thing I did, after waking up this morning, was to send this message to each one of them:

“The news of conflict in the Middle East is very worrying. Pray for your safety and well-being. Hope the situation returns to normalcy, soon. Love and prayers.”

Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and other countries in the Gulf region are small ones. If war escalates, it will be devastating for the entire region. There is hardly anything, you and I – and our friends and relatives living there – can do to douse the engulfing inferno...

Yes, except going on our knees and praying hard - “O God, please bring in sanity.”

Whatever the reason behind waging a war on another nation, how on earth can you justify the killing of innocent civilians – hundreds of little children, sick, young and old alike? How can you justify bombing hospitals, schools and prayer places, so heartlessly?

Ok. At the end of it – God knows when – what have you achieved?





Howard Zinn reminds us: “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”

What’s sad to see is this: We, sitting here thousands of miles away from these war zones, take sides... We cheer in support of either of the two sides that are warring – bombing, killing and destroying indiscriminately. Yes, we don’t see with humane lenses... Our hearts, too, have hardened... We have turned mercenaries... There is no difference at all!

Sad to say that...

Yes, Sir, in war, no one wins. You know it: there is no victory in a war...

Kristin Hannah puts it this way:

“If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this:  in love, we find out who we want to be; in war, we find out who we are.”

Let’s pray, that Love wins in the end, so that we are able to find out who we want to be...




GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: www.dreamstime.com

Video: Jasmine e

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