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The Outcome of War
By
Jason Greywolf Leigh
(c) 2003
They were called, "The killing fields," long ago--in Vietnam. Fields in which people were killed. Fields in which rice used to grow. Fields in which children once had played. Fields, that were littered with the bloody bodies of human beings.
Presently (since 9/11/01), we are witnessing, "The War on Terrorism," against those terrorists who have inflicted their 'Holy War' upon non-military bystanders, seemingly, the world over; not just in the United States of America: the land of the free--and the home of the brave.
War begets war, just as life begets life--love begets love--hate, begets hate. All of the makings for 'war' are combined within these abstract concepts.
And on the 'side lines,' are the innocent: the children, women and mothers. The young boys and girls are playing their childhood games in the midst of the most terror stricken time in modern human history. 'That's some picture to see, isn't it? And the elderly men and helplessly hopeless fathers who cannot protect themselves, let alone their families, are certainly not the least of these.
But this 'War on Terrorism' will have the selfsame effect upon the children, the women and mothers, the young boys and girls playing their childhood games of self content, while in the midst of the most terror stricken time in human history: they witness the sidelines of retribution . . .
Can even a 'Smart Bomb' discern between a private citizen or a soldier, once it has been launched and on its way to the target? I don't think so. Do you? How 'smart' can a 'bomb' be, anyway? How about a 'spiritual bomb,' which discerns 'good' from 'evil' people?
So, what then is the 'Outcome of War?' Pain inflected and pain endured? Political insistence made at the point of a gun? Submission to another's point of view? Correction of evil thinking and practices?
And who is to determine what is 'evil?' Is the person with the largest and 'smartest' bomb the 'righteous,' or is that person the mightiest with the most destructive of weapons, regardless of what is good, or what is evil?
The outcome of war, albeit, all past wars, has always resulted in the undue suffering of those who must live on long after the fighting has ended. Those are the people who must suffer the loss of a loved one or more in the struggle of warring, and all that that implies.
Mothers call the names of their lost ones. Fathers weep in silence for their son or daughter who laid down their life to preserve the freedoms and liberties, which was the direct intention of the fighting to begin with, if such was indeed the intention.
Friends of the fallen must resolve themselves in painful memories of their friend who will no longer be by their side to share in walking down the road of life, together; no more.
Buildings and dwellings must be rebuilt. Destroyed economies must be regained, if at all, in order to obtain the livelihood that was once known, however modest or abundant that livelihood may have been.
Hearts and minds must be reclaimed from the outcome of war . . .
And then there are the 'spoils of war' for the victors to reap, which may well have been the reason for such a killing of human lives in the first place. That was why wars used to be fought. But now, in 'the Modern Era,' wars are fought for a purpose: a point taken in the cross hairs of a weapon that determines such spoils to the victor to be 'figurative' of the long ago wars fought for, 'territory' . . .
The outcome of war? Freedom, through the death of the enemy and the innocent, by the sacrificing of life from all sides; from without, and from within . . .
The question that looms above the reality of the 'outcome of war,' is the very fiber of its modern day body, which asks: "What does 'freedom' mean to you?"
Peace in numbers--Jason
(c) 03/03/03 By
Jason 'Greywolf' Leigh
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