The protagonists of war have praised it to the skies, one of them going to the extent of saying
“Peace is only a period of preparation for war”.
War, they urge, draws forth the best qualities such as courage, patience, and sacrifice. Under the stress of war, many insignificant men suddenly spring into eminence by feats of valor and heroism. On the other hand, the supporters of peace denounce war ás inhuman and barbarous Human progress is not only arrested: rather the hands of the clock start moving backward. The angelic powers of man are overcome by the beastly powers.
O men, wise men, Superior being, say
Is there no substitute for war in this
Great age and era? If you answer ‘No?
Then let us rear our ch Idren to the wolves,
And teach them from the cradle flow to kin.
War poses a big problem to mankind today. It has been there as a terrible monster for countless generations, but never before in the history of man has it been so dreadful and devastating as today. The discovery of nuclear weapons has brought mankind near the brink of disaster. One atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima spelled death for 60000 persons and life of death for a much bigger number. And now the stock-pile has gone up manifold, and the bombs are much more devastating than in the 2nd World War. Einstein said and said truly:
“The Third World War will be fought with atomic and hydrogen bombs but the fourth World War, if and when it comes, will be fought with spears and arrows.”
[the_ad id=”17141″]Human civilization will be completely wiped out. The greatest curse that can be entailed on mankind is a state of war. All the atrocious crimes committed in years of peace, all that is spent in peace by the secret corruptions, or by the thoughtless extravagance of nations, are mere trifles compared with the gigantic evils which stalk over this world in a state of war. God is forgotten in war, every principle of ethics is trampled upon. War is the negation of truth and humanity. War may be unavoidable sometimes but its progeny are terrible to contemplate. Not mere killing for man must die but the deliberate and persistent propagation of hatred and falsehood, which gradually become the normal habits. of the people.
There are cynics who regard war as unavoidable. The bellicose instinct is ingrained in human nature, they say. War is the part and parcel of God’s creation and eternal peace is a dream. Great prophets and sages have tried their best to wean mankind away from the path of violence but all their efforts have ended in smoke. A little pause and wars have again flared up shattering all hopes and breaking human hearts. The experience of centuries' lands supports the thesis of Darwin that the evolution of man is but the history of the struggle with his fellow-creatures. The strong survive, the weak must go to the wall that is the eternal law of nature. Everything becomes food for every other thing. The vegetables feed upon the elements of In the earth, the sheep eat the vegetables, the wolf preys upon the sheep, the bull kills the wolf while the lion devours, the bull. Thus the drama of life goes on. Human nature is similarly patterned. The urge for survival, the spirit of competition must result, in the last analysis, in combativeness and war.
That indeed is a counsel of despair. If war is natural to man, it cannot be abolished. But the fact remains that alongside the invention of terrible engines of destruction man has gone on forging new methods and devices to establish peace on the earth. The League of Nations and later the United Nations Organization have been two big attempts to solve this problem of war. They might not have been completely successful in their objective but even the worst detractors of these organizations cannot deny that a beginning has been made. The U.N.O. has made considerable headway in removing economic and social backwardness and promoting a healthy climate in which the tender and sensitive plant of peace may thrive and prosper. The desire on the part of the Big nations to subject themselves to international control and supervision of nuclear weapons and preparedness to reduce armament speak eloquently of the appreciable way in which the U.N.O. has gone to work. Whatever its weaknesses it has successfully secured the willing cooperation of the various nations to fight poverty, hunger, and physical disabilities. If the dream of world peace is to materialize, the U.N.O. still remains the only effective organization to translate that dream into a reality. [the_ad id=”17142″]It recognizes that
“since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defenses of peace must be constructed.”
Check out the paragraph on Student Unrest.
There is an increasing awareness that poverty and vast inequalities of wealth are the biggest contributory causes of war. The Marxists are fanatical of the view that the capitalist structure of. society contains within itself the seeds of war which sprout forth, every now and then. Others may not share this extreme view but the realization is dawning even on the die-hard capitalist that these inequalities will have to be narrowed down if there is to be some sort of satisfaction on the earth. The favored nations of the earth much share a part of their wealth with the less fortunate. Similarly, the haves among the inhabitants of each country must part with some of their wealth so as to ameliorate a lot of them have not’s. It is a happy augury that in so many countries the socialist experiment is at work. More and more segments of the world’s population are drawing towards this great vortex of socialism. The U.N.O. though not wedded to any particular dogma or doctrine in economics has been the instrument of this leveling process. It is a big and positive gain that the conscience of mankind has been aroused to do something about the degrading poverty which is the common feature of more than half the population of the world. Its specialized agencies like UNESCO, WHO, and FAO have set up technical assistance programs for an international sharing of the technical knowledge and skills much needed for the economically and socially backward countries.
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