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Love or War
Is it safe to say, humanity has been at war for ever, or as far back to our emergence into the Universe? If you google a country without war, Sweden and Switzerland have held the longest neutrality out of any countries, extending back to 1814. I am not sure how to box that, when clearly World Wars at the least waged around them. Is there a way to stop wars? Can humans learn to de-escalate and maybe hold less violence? Isn’t the primary, preponderance of conflict resolution strategies, as evidence by literature, movies, games, politics- telling us going to war is the only way to end conflict, or is the message it’s a never ending besiegement of bosses requiring greater levels of violence?
I have not been to war, formally. My father and maternal grandfather served in wars. I can only imagine the difficulties and choices my ancestors made, the alliances they forged or lost because of war. I can’t even imagine how far along humans might have become had we been more agreeable more often.
I have seen violence. I have seen in it at home. I have seen in it in the community. I have participated- fighting to win, fighting just to extricate myself, in both physical and verbal arenas. In the search for a solution, it is not my intent to disparage people who choose violence first, who use power first, who use manipulation first…
