The above is mostly just my response to other threads which I am silently following here at WonderCafe. It is starting to seem to me that to be human is to be our own worst enemy. When we do not think of others, I guess we are not thinking of ourselves either.

I think those are very good observations worth pondering, naman.

It's almost as if we want the law of the jungle prevail.

Agreed, Naman.

A favourite song of mine, and one that troubles me.

You may have to listen to most of it understand what i mean

Where it begins. The warlord mentality that takes our youngest and most innocent.

Where it ends.

This song is particularly poignant for me, as it was the lullaby I used to put to sleep my little boy.

Why use a funeral dirge as a child's lullaby? I know why, but perhaps only another soldier would understand.

And finally, in the midst of it all. The brotherhood of arms.

No one despises war more than an old soldier. No one loses more than a young soldier. WE are the ones who have chosen to have no choice, to go where no one else will go, to do what no one else will do. We do so at the whim of some fat man with a desk and a seal.... but we do it for our loved ones, and for each other.

Rest well and rest easy, my brothers in arms.

Sorry for taking over the thread

Thank You for those post Witch they all resonated with me.

Aye, thank you, Witch.

For therein lies the difficulty, doesn't it?  One small part of us cannot simply declare an end to violence.  Those who do will be the victims of those who do not.  And even if they are not, where does the responsibility lie for care of our brethern?

I don't know.  I know that while this societies adoration of violence sickens me, I cannot bring myself to completely adopt pacifist principles.  I choose those principles in defense of myself.  But I cannot feel right about choosing those principles for the defense of others.

Actually, Witch, I had gone about as far as I can with this thread and I appreciate your elaboration.

I do not consider my self much of a scholar. I grew up on a mixed farm where I have remained most of my life. I am not much of a scholar and was never very  happy in school. Much of what I post is based on my observations of barnyard behavior and I tend to relate human behaviour to barnyard behaviour.

Sometimes I think that our cousins in the barnyard are more civilized.