Why War?

I have often wondered why countries like ours seem always to be in a state of warfare.  Is it a result of a capitalist society or does it have to do with the position of our country in the world scene; the leader of the free world as they say.  We always had a Department of War until the name was moderated a bit by making it the Department of Defense, but the concern for warfare is still present.  We have the Joint of Chiefs involving the heads of the four major military branches and their access to the President and their advise on the need or ability of the armed forces to respond to a given problem.

But recently I have thought of other reasons we seem to be willing to enter into a state of armed conflict.  We have the pictures of many (men and women) who have served in the armed forces and use their picture from that time in their obituaries.  They show a younger state of the person in uniform and they almost always have a smile on their faces and a service hat jauntily tilted to one side.  This observation may only apply to the veterans of WWII and it may not be seen in obit pieces of the Korean War and Vietnam veterans.

I remember my mother telling us kids about her brother-my Uncle Al-who flew with the "flying tigers" in the "great war".  She said it seemed to be the best years of his life; that everything else since was kind of down hill.

I even remember my feelings on being drafted in 1967, being anti-war but somehow excited about going off to a different experience, meeting people and even getting married in my "dress blues".  Even now being proud to say I am a veteran.  I also remember form my reading of history, Gen William T. Sherman (Civil War) saying that "it was good that war is so terrible, or we would grow to like it too much".

I recently read a novel entitled "Snow Island" that was set in the days prior to and after the US entered the war in 1942.  One passage I will quote here as follows.

"...he heard the clink of silverware and the murmur of voices.  The entire world had taken leave of its senses.  The war was like a drug people craved.  You could see it in the glassy-eyed stares of people on the trains, in the streets, in the hallways of the hotel.  They were drunk with the war.  One glimpse at the dinning room as he went quickly past confirmed his sense of it all.  The tables were full. Laughter shot back and forth across the crowded room, and he saw, as he glanced in, champagne glasses raised over one table in a toast".

I always thought that we could teach peace, but maybe war is what people want and not for any high moral purpose or even for a country's glory but for a sense of personal pride, excitement and and involvement>