by James Glaser
May 7, 2002

It doesn't matter, the good war, the just war, the bad war, the cold war, any war, it doesn't matter which war. We all lose with every one of them.

War is not the start of a conflict. It doesn't matter if there was a sneak attack or one with a up front declaration. Wars are the result of failed communication and the loss of patience. If there is a problem with language, then both sides can be working toward the same goal of peace and not know it.

If in a war, one side totally dominates and crushes the other, there is still no victory as not only have the victors made generations of the vanquished hate them, but the conquering armies have to live with the very acts of war that brought them victory.

Every action that we take in this life leaves a mark of remembrance on our minds and with the soldier that remembering will effect not only their life, but those of their family for maybe generations to come. Just or unjust the waging of war has the same horror imprinted on ones soul. The images reappear with no notice, at the most inopportune times, and nothing can wipe them away. They become a moment of terror or maybe sadness that plays over and over again. Years of these thoughts can and will cause physical and mental suffering that is never thought of when the victory parade marches down the street.

Politicians and Generals make careers up or down, on the out come of a war, but the Statesman that works to avoid a conflict is quickly forgotten. Our nation pins no medal on those who stop aggression with words, but will pour on praise to those best able to kill.

Defending ones homeland from a enemy is a noble cause that goes back thousands of years to where men in clans protected that area they existed in, from all invaders. The closer the fight comes to the home fires, the more ferocious even the most timid can become. Defending the family is a noble undertaking, a person can be proud of.

Attacking the "home fires" of another, be it at twenty thousand feet in a bomber or the "grunt" with a rifle, might bring glory to that politician or general, but will leave a bad taste for the combatant to try and lose for years.

The "innocent" that suffer and die in all conflicts are for the most part uncounted and are, "just that cost we pay in all wars". The "paying of that cost" is by those that loved the innocent and also those that caused their deaths. Nothing is free for the warrior. He must bear his wounds and in the end, bear those wounds that he inflicted.

The politician has no memory of death and dying, Only the accolades of his followers are imprinted on his mind and the pages of his memoirs. All of this for lack of patience and the need to be right. The need to win, and the need to attain glory.

There are also those that push for war. Those that make their living by selling the implements of war. Those that make the bombs and shells and the body bags are the cause of many wars. "Nothing helps the economy, like a good war" has been ingrained in our thoughts since world war two was said to pull us out of the depression. True or not, many feel that war helps the powerful country and gives it stature in the world. These same people are not the ones that will go and fight.

Those on the sidelines who cheer on the politicians to move toward strife, will make something out of suffering, be it money or that feeling of false pride in their side being better than the other.

Writers who expound the "just cause" or tell tales of the heroes are living vicariously, the lives of those that are put to the test. They relish the "good fight" while safely sitting at their keyboards dreaming of the honors and glory they would have, if they were there.