I believe since the beginning of time we have always had warriors, and the reason for the need for warriors has been religion, need, greed, or a combination of the three.  Mankind has always had a tendency to “free”, liberate, or confiscate something from or for our fellow man.  In order to accomplish this mission, we must either be or employ warriors. 

 

If we employ one warrior, he/she might be called an enforcer or an assassin.  If we employ many warriors, we might call them soldiers.  The name given to these warriors is determined by the person identifying the individual or group of individuals.  The history of warriors is determined by whether they won or lost more battles.  The winners ultimately write history.  In this case might does make write.

 

This article deviates from my usual topics – the freedom of the individual, but I am seeing so much news regarding the deaths of our young people I feel a need to discuss the matter. 

 

If I were king, all people would be free; there would be no poverty, no discrimination, no sicknesses, and no wars.  I expect everyone could agree to that type of leadership.  Unfortunately, there are and have been many leaders throughout the world, and each of them has egos.  I believe it has been our leaders’ egos which have resulted in the greatest changes, both good and bad, in history, and each of these leaders believed that his/her philosophy and theology was the only true one.  If we could convince our leaders that there are many paths to the same place we might avoid wars.  Until this revelation does occur, I have one message for our leaders. 

 

We are either at war or at peace.  We are either hawks or doves.  I have fathered two boys and part of my duties as a father was to teach them to fight.  I did so, but I also taught them that the person who throws the first punch is the person who has ran out of ideas.  This sounds very noble as an adult but has very little influence on our behavior as little boys.  It did not work.  I ultimately taught them that if anyone pushes them to the point that they know a fight cannot be avoided, there are no rules.    

 

If we research the art of war, we will find that, the vast majority of the time, the warrior with the least restrictions (either physical or mental) will ultimately be the victor.  This is a problem we face in America.  A portion of our society is hawks, a portion is doves, and the remainder doesn’t have a clue what they are.

 

We are totally unfair to our warriors when we question their actions in war.  War is inhumane.  Warriors are forced to do inhumane things.  We cannot recruit our young people to travel to foreign places to fight wars and them reprimand or disgrace them for not fighting fair.  War is not fair.  We cannot restrict our intelligence people and then reprimand them for not doing their job.  Even with the Geneva Convention there were inhumane acts committed in WW2.  How much collateral damage occurred from the atomic bombs we dropped?  

If our leaders decide war is necessary, we must allow our warriors to fight the battles and extract the intelligence using the best methods possible.  If we are not committed to supporting our warriors in this manner, we should not ask our young people to fight our battles.  Inhumane behavior is a product of war.

 

Many of my friends have asked me my position on war.  Am I a dove or a hawk?  I always respond, “I am a dove until attacked by a hawk; then I am an eagle.”