Do some people still think that lasting peace is possible? Sometimes I wonder where some people's thoughts are when they themselves know that peace is a very elusive thing and that humanity and conflict have been around since the beginning of recorded history.
Is there any reason why people should want peace universally when the governments we elect are bound to send young people to war even if you and I are against it? So you may say the answer lies in protesting and making a presence felt at these big think tank talks that takes place with the powers that be. I think that demonstrations make politicians aware of the limits they should have on their power buttons and the desire people have to avoid serious world conflicts. On the other hand conflicts have even been sited in the holiest of books as a means of eliminating an opposing force. Is this what inspires people when obtaining a lasting peace? It all sounds insane.
If you are looking for a lasting peace and want to cite examples such as Gandhi who fought for non-violence and was respected for that, look at what happened to him. Look at others that fought for peace. It's kind of a paradox, isn't it? Having to fight for peace in a world where you wouldn't want to fight. Life goes on regardless of whether there is conflict or not and for the people in their ivory towers, a certain number of people are expendable, it is sad to say. That is why the Bushes in the world can send young soldiers to Iraq with he stroke of a pen while remaining in their comfortable offices or swing their clubs on the golf course. And they are doing it for the sake of peace, they would say!
Exponents of lasting peace efforts have come up with plans that would disarm the general population. On the other hand I would not want to be defenseless against somebody who fell through the cracks of the arms control. Look what happened to a young female officer who went to investigate the home of an ex-criminal in Quebec a couple of years ago. He used his elephant gun to reply to her knock and she was hit under her bulletproof vest. So far I have not heard how this man was able to keep these weapons in his home and there probably tens of other convicts out there waiting for a moment to shoot through their doors too! So one has to be realistic about what we do to control weaponry in our midst. If we want to understand how to obtain a lasting peace, we have to understand what encourages violence such as this and even so would that realistically lead to a lasting peace? Let's get serious!
Proponents for lasting peace debated the ability of China to hold nuclear weapons in 1965. Today many question the right for the Iranians to have the same right and there are probably other nations we do not know about that have their fingertips on available nuclear arms. I think many have to wake up to the reality of nuclear disarmament and treat that and the ability to obtain peace as two independent things. While nuclear disarmament might favor peace, it would only permit the holding of arms among a few nations that would then use their weapon advantage to dominate the world scene. That domination is no solution to lasting world peace.
