Mathematics of War
Most people aren’t very good at mathematics. Numbers are abstract and hard for us to imagine them as real objects in the world. So when we see numbers intending to express the devastation of war in the world it fails to impact us. The Washington Post reports an estimate of 100,000 civilian deaths from conflict in Iraq since the war began. A BBC report puts civilian deaths in Afghanistan somewhere between 3,700 and 5,000. You see part of the problem is that U.S. forces don’t keep records of the number of civilians killed during conflicts. Military planners must be sensitive to our poor math skills and don’t want us to work to hard adding the numbers up.
Numbers that we carry with us as a nation are the deaths of our own people. During 9/11 we lost 3,030 innocent people. Folks died because they went to work that day or because they had the courage to try to help others. People that had nothing to do with international politics died without ever knowing why. As a nation we think back to that time and our hearts ache and anger boils new in our blood. This is a natural reaction to lose and trauma. There are so many aching hearts in the world today. Can we truly justify creating more mothers without children, more children without parents? The number of civilians killed in Lebanon in the past 30 days number between 500 and 1000 people. The Israeli army doesn’t like math any more than we do. According to the Israel Defense Forces, Hezbollah attacks have killed seven Israeli civilians. Israel has a right to defend itself, but can you understand why the 1.5 billion Muslims world wide are feeling disproportionate heartache. People living in parking garages in Lebanon are now looking to Hezbollah to protect them. Are we more secure now because of this carnage, are they? None of us are very good at the math but hasn’t the answer become clear?
Kidnappers and terrorist are criminals. When a child is kidnapped in this country we don’t bomb our bridges to keep the criminal from escaping. When Timothy McVeigh was arrested for the Oklahoma City bombing we didn’t send troops and bombs to his hometown of Pendleton, New York. After the Columbine school shooting we didn’t lock up anti social teens as potential enemy combatants. We have peace in this country and calm despite a number of criminals and crazy people equal to anywhere in the world. We’ve proven our ability to wage war better than any nation in the world. Perhaps it is time to show the world how to wage peace.
Our resources are limited and so is our time. A child who lives in a war torn country becomes day by day accustomed to violence and the solutions of war. Peace and reconciliation become as foreign as a language he’s never heard. Hezbollah wanted Israel to attack them in the heart of Lebanon. Israeli attacks have killed many of their soldiers but the numbers in their army continue to grow. This is not just a failure of Israel but the concept of war itself. Unless we abandon the idea that anger can breed love and war can create peace we will never convince anyone else of this truth. The answer lies not in the mathematics of who killed whom, but which side will have the courage to let live.
Numbers that we carry with us as a nation are the deaths of our own people. During 9/11 we lost 3,030 innocent people. Folks died because they went to work that day or because they had the courage to try to help others. People that had nothing to do with international politics died without ever knowing why. As a nation we think back to that time and our hearts ache and anger boils new in our blood. This is a natural reaction to lose and trauma. There are so many aching hearts in the world today. Can we truly justify creating more mothers without children, more children without parents? The number of civilians killed in Lebanon in the past 30 days number between 500 and 1000 people. The Israeli army doesn’t like math any more than we do. According to the Israel Defense Forces, Hezbollah attacks have killed seven Israeli civilians. Israel has a right to defend itself, but can you understand why the 1.5 billion Muslims world wide are feeling disproportionate heartache. People living in parking garages in Lebanon are now looking to Hezbollah to protect them. Are we more secure now because of this carnage, are they? None of us are very good at the math but hasn’t the answer become clear?
Kidnappers and terrorist are criminals. When a child is kidnapped in this country we don’t bomb our bridges to keep the criminal from escaping. When Timothy McVeigh was arrested for the Oklahoma City bombing we didn’t send troops and bombs to his hometown of Pendleton, New York. After the Columbine school shooting we didn’t lock up anti social teens as potential enemy combatants. We have peace in this country and calm despite a number of criminals and crazy people equal to anywhere in the world. We’ve proven our ability to wage war better than any nation in the world. Perhaps it is time to show the world how to wage peace.
Our resources are limited and so is our time. A child who lives in a war torn country becomes day by day accustomed to violence and the solutions of war. Peace and reconciliation become as foreign as a language he’s never heard. Hezbollah wanted Israel to attack them in the heart of Lebanon. Israeli attacks have killed many of their soldiers but the numbers in their army continue to grow. This is not just a failure of Israel but the concept of war itself. Unless we abandon the idea that anger can breed love and war can create peace we will never convince anyone else of this truth. The answer lies not in the mathematics of who killed whom, but which side will have the courage to let live.
posted by kamuizot at 12:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home