Strange Humanity

We live in a strange humanity, where we have long accepted, since time immemorial, that the strength and vitality of young men can be traded away for the “honors” of war, for medals of bravery and acts of courage, for ritualized funerals of shattered bodies that, at best, leave their survivors crippled, wounded, and all too often, deeply traumatized. Post-traumatic syndromes of a society that too often chooses to settle through armed conflict what diplomacy could have won. I don’t know how, one day, to accept this— the sacrifice of our boys, our children, our sons. The arms lobbies demand the lives of our soldiers, and those soldiers are our young men, sometimes even our children. I can’t swallow that, I can’t digest that, I can’t take that pain and turn it into something acceptable. I can’t grasp that the transformation of boys into collateral victims, the lack of empathy on the international stage, the lack of creativity in conflict negotiation, the lack of sympathy among human beings, all turn into the destruction of young lives. When society lets itself be led by cannon-makers, it’s no wonder great nations end up ruled by criminals— delinquents who climb to power to escape the courts and prison. It is our boys who risk their lives for the childish games of cowards at the head of nations.