THE HIGH COST OF CONFLICT

SPECIAL POST

I was watching FOX NEWS this morning and a segment about a guy who has invented the cure to the world's food crisis.  That's what started me to think about the real high price of conflict.  I'm talking about conflict not war, although war is a type of conflict.  Conflict is what keeps attorneys rich, gun sales going, psychiatrists busy and fists flying. 

Supposing we were able to wave the magic wand and make conflict disappear.  How many trillions of dollars would that save around the world in defense budgets?  Supposing we were able to end divorces; how many billions of dollars would that save us around the world in attorney fees?  You get the picture. 

Imagine all of that money being put to the use of eliminating world poverty, improving technology, solving the energy problem... on and on.  

I've often wondered why it is that we humans insist on being in conflict.  Why is it that we cannot live in harmony?  Here we are with wireless telephones, telescopes that peer billions of miles into space, medical advances beyond our wildest imaginations and all kinds of technological and scientific advances that our ancestors surely never even dreamed of.  Why is it that, with these solutions to different aspects of our lives, we cannot live in peace with  each other?  

Raising a fist in anger is the first step to world war.  There are those, like our President and like radical Muslims everywhere, who cannot stand to have things run smoothly, peacefully; they deliberately stir the pots and fan the fires of dissent and conflict.   And, we fall into the trap of voicing our frustrations and anger at the dirty deeds and rhetoric they manufacture.  Voices grow louder, violence ensues, armies are created, war is waged... and the poor suffer, the advancement of our society suffers and harmony eludes us.  

Is there no end to this merry-go-round?  Is the only conceivable answer to wage war against those who cannot tolerate peace and harmony until every last one of them is extinguished from the face of the earth?  And after that, to kill off all of the kids who throw rocks on the playground or raise their voices in conflict?  Is that the only answer we can contemplate?  


That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.