Diary of a Disturbing Influence

I saw an ad today that really caught my attention. It asked, “How do you end a war?” Good question. I’m not sure how one advertises peace, but kudos to whoever designed it for trying. Anyway, it made me think. How do you end a war?

 I’m a pacifist, which might come as a surprise. I’m not a vegan bong-smoking hippie, which is what most people seem to think of when they hear the word ‘pacifist.’ I just think that war is a completely deplorable, abhorrent practice. What gives us the right to take another human life? I don’t understand how a Christian can not be a pacifist. If we’re all made in the image of God, then killing another person is, in a round-about sort of way, destroying a picture of God. The more we kill, the less we know of the divine. That’s a frightening thought. So I detest war. I want it to end. But I don’t know how to do it. It’s something on which I’ve spent much thought. Eventually I came to the conclusion that the only way to end war is to change human nature, which is impossible. Even if we eliminated poverty and provided the world’s population with an education, there would still be war. Educated rich people can be quite greedy. Greed is cause enough for war: greed for power, greed for land, greed for glory.

In short, people aren’t perfect. Until we are, we will possess a bizarre need to conquer each other. War cannot be stopped. It can be limited, but human beings will always hurt each other. We can do what we can to prevent it, and we should. But it will still happen. Welcome to Earth.