Human beings have been fighting each other for so long we have very specific names for these events.  Civil when the citizens of a country war among themselves.  Regional when two or three neighboring countries war each other.  World when groups of countries form alliances and these groups fight each other.

We have been warring for so long we developed special language to report on it.  Hostilities escalate, firefights intensify, refugees flee the theater of war, air strikes continue, territory is gained or lost, targets are neutralized and insurgents use improvised explosive devices to incapacitate, to name just a few terms and expressions I have heard used to sterilize the horror of war.

There are no winners in war.  Everyone loose.  The warring sides each pouring resources into the war machine, with the side that runs out of bodies, weapons and money first the looser.

Cities are destroyed, historic sites leveled, art is lost, life is lost, animals, men, women and children killed, maimed or psychologically damaged never to be the same again.  War crimes committed, rape, murder, chemical weapons or weapons of mass destruction deployed. Famine and disease spreading unchecked because all resources are needed for the war effort.

Meanwhile the two faced, lying, double chinned politicians that declared war remain safe in their ivory towers, spinning facts to obtain more funding because war is so profitable!  There is money to be made.  The good citizens of the warring factions patriotically sacrificing their young to die, giving their livelihood and skill so more bombs and weapons can be made to facilitate more killing and destruction.  The politicians getting fatter and more comfortable, using these sanitized terms and statistics to gain more support so more war can be had.

If I was king of the world I would decree that those that declare war must also be the ones doing the fighting.  Somehow I think this would make these assholes way more willing to find peaceful solutions.

Where the war is fought also determines how people feel about it.  If it is fought elsewhere, far from your homes and cars and shops and boats it is much easier to have a strong opinion on the necessity of war.  When you find yourself inside the theater of war you will not be so glib, you will wish for peace, you will hate war.

We may never evolve past the need for war.  It might require an alien species to show up that wants our planet.  Then we will have war, but different!  All the previously warring parties now united because they have a common enemy.  No more political, religious or resource disagreements between nations, but a singular goal, survival of the human race.

Humans are formidable enemies, we have had lots of practice.  We will fight to the last person and we will defeat any aliens that are stupid enough to pick a fight with us.  We will rebuild. For a time things might be good. Eventually we will turn on each other again, now armed with better and more destructive weapons we took from the defeated aliens.

Dumb fuckers we are!  War has been our common enemy since the dawn of time.  We need to defeat this need for war, temper our anger, remove the war mongers from office, evolve!

We also need to quit smoking, exercise more, eat healthier and care for our planet. Yeah right!  I am not sure that we can do any of these things easily, never mind making war unacceptable and finding other ways to settle disputes.

I will however hope and pray to the universe that eventually we can find a way to live more harmoniously.  I will not see it, but I wish it for future generations.