As I was
watching this movie called Suite Française, which starts with scenes of German
airplanes bombing civilian people who were walking on the road from Paris to a
small town to find shelter and safety, I felt myself feeling shocked by those
images of war-planes bombing 'innocent' civilians. But then I started looking
at this concept of war and how it is that there is always this 'bad guy' or
'bad people' apparently without any reason or conscience killing a whole bunch
of other people. Those 'bad guys' in this case being the Germans.
I suppose
the modern equivalent of 'the Germans' would be like ISIS, those 'monsters' who
are invading countries, killing innocent people and trying to enforce their
vision and way of life onto a people.
So, just like with pre-war Germany, I myself must admit that there is
very little that I truly know about how the current ISIS situation really
started, why did they become militant, why are they so angry, why are they set
on killing, plundering and raping across Syria and Iraq and who are they
really...
When I
think back to my days in high school when I learned about World War One and
Two, I don't remember learning anything about how exactly those two world wars
were started. All that we learned back then were random facts like, this is
where they first hit, Hitler hated the Germans, they invaded all these
countries, there were so many people killed, etcetera...
But the
most important information, the information which would in fact show the real
problem behind why those wars started in the first place, and would
simultaneously also enable one to see the solution to prevent such things from
happening again, ... This information was not taught in history class. I never
learned why it was that Germans got so extremely angry that they were willing
to go to war or what could have pushed them so far to the edge that war seemed
to them like a better option than the status quo.
I mean,
in war people die, families get torn apart, there is nothing but anger, hate,
grief, sadness and regret that comes from war, and this is the case for either
side. So war is only something that would be like a last resort, when all other
options have been depleted, when you see no other way out to survive, and to
live a decent life. So to simply say that 'they hated the Jews, and therefore
they decided to exterminate them', or 'they just got provoked and therefore
they decided to go to war', without giving the exact detail of what their
situation was like before the war, is like deliberately hiding a big part of
reality in order to deliberately paint a certain picture of 'the Germans'.
Come to
think of it, looking back on how history class was taught, specifically when it
came to those two world wars, all that I seemed to have gotten out of it was
that 'Germans are bad people' and 'Hitler was a bad man', as though I had just
watched a Hollywood action movie with a hero and villain character who both
lack real depth, because obviously they are figures of imagination designed to
entertain the minds of the public.
So, it is
only now that I have matured enough as a person that I understand that in fact
any conflict is more than just a 'good guy' and a 'bad guy' trying to fight
this epic battle of good versus evil. In a conflict you have basically two
people who both want the same thing, which is to survive and live indignity in
this world and to be respected, cared for and considered by others, and
conflict is what emerges when one party feels that they cannot establish or
create what is needed to live in dignity. And war is what you get when that
person has been pushed into that situation to the brink of despair where they
can't see any other way than to forcefully take it from others who may or may
not have in fact more than what they need.
Now this
is actually how our economy works. It wasn't only in pre-war Germany that there
was economic inequality where some had nothing or close to nothing, while
others had more than they could possibly need, but also in our current climate
we have severe economic inequality in countries and between countries. So much
so even, that if you really stop and look at this situation, it does almost
constantly feel like the entire world is on a perpetual brink of war. After
all, how could it not be when so many people are being pushed into that
position of absolute despair where they would consider doing anything just to
be able to survive.
What many
countries have been good at doing however, is dispersing and dividing this
inequality in such a way that individuals whom are in this state of despair are
isolated and end up lashing out on their close environment, so as to prevent
those people from organizing themselves and potentially start a war or
revolution. A few methods of dispersing disparity is by for example making sure
there is minimal education available so that people don't have the skills to
speak up and create a substantial movement, or through media which is good at
creating cognitive disinformation and redirecting people's awareness away from
the things that matter and from the real problems towards false enemies.
So why
and how is it that we have missed this very obvious reality and truth when it
comes to conflict, that the one we are fighting is always a living being
exactly like ourselves, not a demon or bad/evil person or people. And I don't
just mean when it comes to war, also the small conflicts we go into on a daily
bases, externally with people in our environment but also internally in our mind
each time we wish ill on someone. Why are we so quick to believe the propaganda
done by the media and by our own mind about another person or people which
deliberately paints a picture of them and blinds us from recognizing ourselves
within the other?
Conflict
resolution, be it in war or domestic disagreements, always starts with placing
yourself in the shoes of the other person and recognizing yourself as a living
being in them. It starts with learning about a person's background so that you
can see and understand that if you were in their shoes you would have done and
reacted the same. I am one vote for a mature world wherein we can deal with
conflict in a mature way, which is not by fighting back but by ensuring that
each being has a dignified life and enjoys the respect, care and consideration
that we all deserve. Investigate a Living Income Guaranteed #LIG
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