To Avert War and Terror, Bring in Peace

 

In this post, let us do some soul searching of the U.S. A man may perish but his soul lives on. A nation may die but her soul lives on. It tells the importance of establishing a soul for the nation which lives on eternally even though the physical existence morphs into different shapes. A nation is made up of men and it is the great men who embodies a nation. Latching onto the great men who symbolizes the soul of a nation will take it on a right path. It is important as to who you pick as a torch bearer, a father figure, an idealistic person whose life becomes a confluence with the life of nation. It is important for such a man to resonate with the citizens of the nation to dictate the future trajectory for its own good. The man and his work should undeniably connect with the common man of the nation. The constitution will dictate the rules of the nation and the soul of the nation will dictate the citizens navigational and behavioral compass. The mystic rise and the emergence of this clout which permeates into the social fabric of the nation to becoming the nations soul should be in the greater interest of the country’s future.

 As U.S. has travelled through the annals of history, there is a need to take a pause and introspect on the process it has followed to create the great products of the country. The process is mostly at fault. For this post, let us stick to one singular aspect of violence. The nation has emerged from the bedrock of violence and continue doing so. Violence is seeped deep into the veins of the nation’s body and its soul is crying due to the severe blemishes and wounds inflicted due to the horrific acts of violence. Everyone knows which is the most powerful country in the world. Everyone knows which is the country that faces most gun violence at home and puts its nose into every other conflict around the world. Does the U.S. reach the top by its violent means or did the U.S. became violent in its pursuit to reach and stay on top. In any way the process followed is questionable, dubious and faulty by all terms by considering the single parameter of violence in the past, present and future.

The soul needs to be purified and rid of the stains on it. Simply the violent past and present needs to be atoned for a peaceful future. The soul of the nation should be washed of all its sins and thoroughly purified. That is the real step forward and the country should build its future from the foundation of peace and non-violence. Let us quickly look at two aspects which tarnished the country in the dimension of peace in the past and present.

1.      1. External wars

2.      2. Domestic gun violence

The first one progressed as the country progressed in every other positive factor. The domestic gun violence has also been very progressive in relative comparison to the nations rise to the top of the world. The nation has simply traded peace for buying all other less relevant commodities. If the external wars waged by U.S. is considered, the nation firmly believe in military might to showcase the might of the nation. U.S. military has become the ground zero for all the operations around the world. The history of armed conflicts involving the U.S. spans a period of more than four centuries. In its existence, U.S. has waged 107 wars both within and externally around the world. After the turn of new century and in past 20 years the U.S. has been involved in 14 insurgencies, wars and interventions at a major or minor scale all around the world. The losses, just on the side of U.S. due to these battles is around 2.8 million since the beginning of its history and the loss inflicted on other countries is huge.

One significant factor is the path chosen by U.S. to become the superpower through a mighty technologically advanced destructive weapon system. The U.S. spends 800 billion dollars or constitutes 38% of worlds military expenditure. The U.S. is top ranked and spends more than the next 9 countries combined. A country, Germany which fought a fierce World War 2 has a mere 60-billion-dollar military budget today. Why the U.S. travelled in this path to choose destruction is difficult to answer but not surprising due its eccentric stance to embrace many faulty processes. The U.S. military is the most destructive and potent force on the planet with the possession of most advanced war machinery. The country encouraged development of lethal bombs which lead to the proliferation of atomic and nuclear missiles worldwide. The work, research, development and deployment of an atomic bomb on another country is the most illegally legal sequence of maneuvers without any value for human life. The govt. should have banned the idea itself but allowed to take shape in the most destructive forms. If the proliferation of U.S. military strength and the spending on defense is a by-product of building the todays brand of a country, then the country should have discarded building such a brand. As you can see, the boardrooms of U.S. has no room for peace and non-violence in the dictionary. The entire focus and unbridled, unchecked, uncontrolled ways and means is to be most violent by waging a numerous battles and grooming men and machinery to achieve heinous outcomes. This is highly cringeworthy and needs a tectonic shift in the policy.

The second aspect which tarnished the nation is the domestic gun violence. This is once again horrendous, and no other large nation comes close to U.S. in terms of gun violence perpetrated by citizens over fellow citizens. One figure which blows my mind more than the bullets is the nation saw more than 600 mass shootings every year in the last two years. It is not just usage of guns or violence thereof but incidents of victims involving 4 or more people. If each day two such incidents happen, this is not one-off or stray act of violence but a significant problem with the people and the prevailing popular culture that breeds these people. If the mentality and attitudes of the people is a problem, then putting guns in these hands is a sure way to societal violence and terror. There are a greater number of firearms in civilian possession than the population itself (120:100) which is not seen anywhere else in the world or in any other planet or galaxy. If the lawmakers, NRA has a conscience and has a feeling of guilt and has a slightest feeling to make amends, the situation would not be this bad. Worse, even after it turns so pathetic statistically, everyone concerned is in deep slumber without a smallest iota of action. Prevention is better than cure. Cure is better than a recurring problem left alone. For those concerned with legalizing firearms in U.S., there is neither prevention nor action nor cure to a pathetic, pathogenic, miserable epidemic of ever-increasing virus of gun violence. As I said earlier, this is a huge blot on the soul of the nation which is the same in the present context as well.  

Even if we leave the regulation and controls, why are the citizens stocking a firearm in first place. Why are these dangerous commodities in the households with children. Why is the society so dangerously polluted and the virus of violence crept so extensively, deeply and inherently within the nation’s fabric. These are all the trillion-dollar questions which goes beyond the trillions earned by America and the loss of precious lives which can never be compensated or traded for all the gains these people are after.

Ever since I came to U.S., my work has me thinking about one of the many sides of spectrum. That side is somewhat dangerous but nonetheless needs to consider. It is a hidden fear about the realization of present and future events of violence as well. Before going there let us look at two episodes:

1.      1. Civil war

2.      2. Holocaust

The first one is the bloody war between the north and south – union and confederate states which happened during the time of the great Abraham Lincoln presidency. This is the internal war to end or continue slavery but waged at unimaginable magnitude and numbers. Nearly 7 lakh military and undetermined number of civilians died making it the deadliest conflict in American history. The modern America was founded against this bloody backdrop. There is a huge need to learn from the past mistakes of this violence and act towards a peaceful future.

But in recent past, protests, counter-protests, and armed violence fueled by white supremacy and far-right political extremism have spilled onto the nation's streets, into the classrooms, and across the social media feeds. This surge of extremism continues to threaten the public good in communities large and small. By some measures, the second and a silent American Civil War has already begun. And until the country recognizes this and takes the perceived threat seriously, Americans cannot begin to address it with the gravity the situation demands. You don't view this new civil war through the lens of conventional military action, with two armies exchanging fire on a grassy field. Instead, see it through the definition of open insurgency. Incidents in this campaign include mass shootings motivated by policy issues around race, sexuality, and immigration; hit-and-runs cases, most notably, a planned insurrection.

The second one is the mass murder of Jewish people under the German Nazi regime during the period 1941–5. More than 6 million European Jews, as well as members of other persecuted groups such as Romani, gay people, and disabled people, were murdered at concentration camps such as Auschwitz. Everyone understands this happened but the antisemitic rhetoric in the country is made by many prominent people making us ever remember it.

We should not be talking more about these but need to, when these are to be averted. These incidents have no place in a just society nor can any place be an encouragement and a breeding ground. Violence has no place – either on impulse or otherwise. In the long run, to protect the soul of the nation, the best way is to reform the present to live with a hope for future. There must be peace externally and internally – by disarming ourselves of the redundant firearms. Let us get rid of these dangerous weapons as the starting point. A war – internal, external or civil needs to be prevented at all costs. Preventing a war is the most noble act than participating in one. The above writeup is meant to shed some light on the dangerous territory we had been in and appeals to consciously bring peace upon us.