Who are we at war with?
Is conflict in our nature?
America is a country that has been at war almost our entire existence. If you look at our existence, we are always at war. We are either at war with a foreign enemy and if we are not fighting a common enemy, then we fight ourselves. That is America.
Throughout our short history, we have fought foreign armies in the American Revolution, War of 1812, Indian Wars, Mexican War, Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, Global War on Terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq. These wars alone have brought us over 40 million deaths, including the American Civil War. I didn’t put the American Civil War in this category because we fought amongst ourselves.
Realistically in some form or fashion, when we are not at war with a common enemy, we tend to fight amongst each other. Maybe not to the degree of the American Civil War, but people do die, and we move on.
Peace is something that is hard for Americans. I don’t know if we truly know how to embrace it. Instead, it seems we treat peace as cancer or Ebola, and we try to eradicate it. Honestly, it seems we relish when our political discourse heightens to a level of violence. I know, I know some will say, “you are embellishing this a bit.” But am I? Let’s peel back the onion a bit.
Let’s see, we had Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton engage in a duel in which Hamilton died. Andrew Jackson killed a man in a duel who accused him of cheating on a horse race bet. Then we have the assassinations of Lincoln, Kennedy, and MLK. There have been many other assassinations throughout our history. These are just some of the most famous. In our early history, we had lynchings and even town massacres. Various protests and riots littered our history as well. Many turned to some rebellions, uprisings, and disputes that led to labor reform as well.
The point I am driving is our country really doesn’t embrace peace too often. Instead, after a war, we look at each other to tear down instead of the enemy. Each of these issues or confrontations has led to death. Some will try to bring progress out of these horrible events, but I look at it when life is lost. Why do we try to claim it was progress? I don’t think the ones that died believe that. Go ask their families if they feel that way.
For me, understanding how our country thrives in confrontation, I would prefer that we fight with a foreign enemy instead of ourselves. Does that mean I believe we should go get in a war? No, not at all. I’ve been there and done that several times for our country. I prefer peace. I don’t believe when someone dies from an internal conflict that, we advance anything.
It seems America just has it in our nature that we always have to be fighting something or someone. Maybe it’s just a time of living and peace. I think America deserves that.
The Vet
