Rockridge High
School
Taylor Ridge, Illinois
Mrs. Downey
War and Peace
Marcus Kilgore
12th Grade
75,519,678. 31,192. 2,421. What do these
numbers have in common one may ask? Is there a proportional number by which
they have all been multiplied or divided? Are they important numbers used to
calculate the most in depth calculus and physics equations? Or could they just
be three numbers listed greatest to least? They are none of the above. Total
dead. Total days. Total dead per day. In just 31,192 days more then
75,519,678 people died of war. These people did not just die of heart attacks
or something natural; these are actual war casualties. That is 2,421 deaths a
day. The worst news is that is only taking eleven wars into consideration from
November 6, 1860 through September 2, 1945. If we began killing one person per
second, it would take 874 days to take 75,519,678 lives. If that is the case,
let's get started.
"Peace is rare: Less than 8% of the time since the beginning of recorded time
has the world been entirely at peace. In a total on 3,580 years, 286 have been
warless. Eight thousand treaties have been broken in this time." The author of
this quote is unknown, but that does not have any bearing on the power behind
the words. It is an amazing fact that of all those years, only 286 have been
times without war. Humans consider themselves at the top of the food chain
because we have the ability to choose and make rational thought. Unlike
animals, we know not to cross highways without looking before we decide to
cross. That is what set us apart from the rest of nature. We were blessed with
this divinity but instead of using it to advance ourselves, we use it to wage
war. It is scary to comprehend how many times the human race has knocked on the
door of a nuclear war. A nuclear war would, with no doubt, be the end of
everything as we know it. We have just been lucky enough that no one has
answered that door yet.
"To preserve peace, we need weapons of smaller and men of larger caliber." Once
again, this is said by an unknown person but whoever said it was very right.
Weapons do not end the attacks and the death. At the end of each war there are
treaties that are signed. These treaties are written up by people who are well
educated and intelligent. If these people were to have discussed differences
before a war, then the whole situation would have been avoided. Weapons need to
be put away, and the common sense all humans have, needs to be brought out of
the cabinets and used more often. Force will get us nowhere.
"The thing that makes life so cruel is that everyone has such good reasons."
This author speaks the truth. Wars have been started because there are two or
more parties that do not agree. Each side feels they are right and the other is
wrong. The only way countries have been able to deal with these kinds of
feelings is by trying to overpower the other. The same idea holds true for cult
groups and terrorists. Israel and Palestine is a prime example. Both groups
feel if they blow the other off the map, all the problems will go away and be
solved. No matter who would "win" the war between the two, there will always be
opposition from people that do not agree with the victorious side. There is no
easy answer but killing each other surely will not end in a positive resolution.
The next quote was made by one of the most influential men in history. He led
an entire country into war and conquered most of Europe. His power as a speaker
and motivator is uncanny and cannot be denied to him. Not many people in
today's society agree with what he motivated but nonetheless, he was a great
manipulator. Adolf Hitler said, "The one means that wins the easiest victory
over reason: terror and force." He could not have worded it any better. The
only reason wars are fought is because there is someone who believes they are
superior to the rest of humanity. Hitler used these thoughts to persuade the
rest of Germany and his neighbors to believe they were part of a greater race.
Had he not had the weapons to begin this war, the fifty-five million people
would have lived to see the rest of their lives. Hitler had access to those
weapons though, and those people did not see their families grow.
Religion and faith; hate and vengeance. Both have caused more wars than can be
counted and taken more lives than one can comprehend. Yet with each war both
sides have told everyone they were the right ones; some even felt there was
nothing wrong with gassing innocent children and then burning their bodies in
human furnaces. Our enemies felt it was justifiable to instantly kill
4,000-6,000 people on September 11, 2001. With all this death, can you come up
with a good reason for war. If so, let me be the first to know.
Bibliography
"Faces of Death." On-line. Internet. 10 Jan. 2002. Available WWW:
http://www.softsynth.com/faces/