Who really wants war?

(Susan Knight | SGP Health & Wellness Featured Columnist)

Written by Susan Knight for Sankarsingh-Gonsalves Productions.

Photo by Stijn Swinnen on Unsplash

Reading the post Napalm The Destroyer: The Burning of Tokyo, I learned about the horrific March 10, 1945 bombing of the city of Tokyo.  As I made my way through the piece, I found myself struggling to process the death toll and injury numbers.  What does it mean when 100,000 people are killed?  What does it mean when one million people are injured?

The city I live in, one of the largest in Canada, doesn’t have one million people.  There are many cities I know of that don’t have anywhere near 100,000 people.  Thinking about places I’m personally familiar with helped me get a clearer sense of those Tokyo numbers in terms of real people.  I can’t begin to imagine what the people actually went through at the time of bombing, or the trauma and chaos they were forced to deal with afterward, but I can at least begin to appreciate the enormous scale of the impact.     

Along with attempting to comprehend the near-incomprehensible numbers, something else entered my mind as I read about the bombs dropping on Tokyo.  It was a simple, yet at the same time complex and multi-layered question:  “Who wants war?”   

I certainly have no desire to see bombs dropped and vast numbers of people killed.  None of my friends want to see this.  The people living next door to me?  They don’t want to see this either.  Your average, healthy-minded person just wants the freedom to go about their business and live their life in peace.  They have no desire to inflict injury, death, trauma, and heartache on thousands of people they’ve never had contact with.  Your average, healthy-minded person typically wants to see all conflict, be it personal or on the international stage, resolved as quickly as possible, with as little attendant damage as possible. 

Who is it then that wants war?  Who are the outliers that possess a perverse desire to inflict widespread destruction and death?  Who are these individuals who are incapable of resolving conflict with reason and diplomacy, but instead are driven to escalate things until a living nightmare unfolds?  Who are these characters who believe the ends justify the means, regardless of the cost incurred?  And precisely what “ends” are they really seeking in the long run? 

Fast forward from the Tokyo bombing to today, and we now have the Russia-Ukraine war well into its second year.  But that’s just the one getting the most media coverage at the moment; there are many other well-funded, armed conflicts underway.  Civil wars and ethnic violence worldwide result in thousands of deaths.  War and armed conflict, whether active or threatened, seems to be inescapable.    

I’m reminded of the 1971 song Peace Train by Cat Stevens, the lyrics as relevant today as they were more than fifty years ago: 

Now I've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again  

Of the billions of people inhabiting this planet, there’s no question the vast majority would be more than happy to hop on board that peace train.  They simply want to get on with their lives.  Left to do so, they have no desire to deprive others of doing the same.   

And so I ask again, who is it exactly that wants war?   

About the Author: Susan Knight| SGP Featured Writer | Contact the author: http://skfreelance.com

Susan is certified health and wellness coach with a focus on personal growth and inner wellness. She was a regular contributor to Social Work Today Magazine and is a featured Health &WellnessColumnist for SGP.