I cannot, under any circumstances approve of war.

I feel very sorry for soldiers whichever side they're on. I don't care what anyone says to me - soldiers, no matter what their age, are indoctrinated into believing that what they do is right and there is simply no justification for what they do or what is done to them.

In Africa, very young children, sometimes as young as 6 years old, go out and cut off hands and arms of children and adults alike in what is considered warfare, their victims are given a choice of which arm or hand they wish to be cut of, left or right.

I don't for a second believe that any Creator wants to see any of His/Her Creations suffer in this way.

The soldiers come back damaged for life, the physical damages are negligible compared with the psychological damage that is done to them and to a lesser extent to their families, friends, wives, children, girlfriends, whatever.

This psychological damage is ongoing from generation to generation and somehow we just find that acceptable and we're indoctrinated into believing that it's okay - it's not!

Those in charge of governments should be willing to take the blame for this - they should, like in corporates be willing to say "the buck stops here!" Those in government should do the fighting - sit at a table and pull guns on each other themselves, have a dual, whatever. Why is it that we can't act like civilised human beings - we call ourselves civilised (well some of us anyway) and yet we act far worse than animals, animals would never fight the way we do, never!

I'm sorry about ranting and raving this way, but I had a boyfriend who went off to war here in South Africa - you either went or you were locked in jail. He came back wild and hating people - before he was a peace loving individual. He was indoctrinated into believing that he was right to believe that all black people were wicked - how sick was that?

War is evil.

"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepared for war." Albert Einstein

I hear what you're saying, but if every "soldier" refused to fight, we wouldn't have wars.

If there was nobody to send off those bombs - then those countries couldn't be at war.

I know that it's just me hoping for an ideal situation and I know that at the stage of development that we humans are at it just can't happen, we're just too greedy, but I just HATE what we're all about - we fight with each other for all the wrong reasons - we're supposed to be here to learn to love.

We just don't even begin to measure up - do we?

I'm not considering this an argument - I'm considering it an intelligent discussion.

South Africa had just been re-elected as head of the UN Security Council - I don't understand why, they made a total hash of it last time by voting in such a way that Zimbabwe continued to be allowed to mismanage the country and abuse it's people.

It is a known fact that individuals abuse their power.

I am aware of the rules that are put into place in prevent abuse of power, but I also know that they don't always work.

I'm not disputing that mankind has done a lot of good things as well, I'm just suggesting that warring with each other is not one of the better things that we've done and are still doing.
I'm also agreeing that at the moment there is no better way that I can think of. However, I still think that our choice of fighting each other is pathetic. I think we are shameful and I am honestly embarrased about the way that we fight with each other, it's just not right.

Scientist believe that dolphins are at the same level of development as mankind. They also have five digits and they have the same brain size as we do. It would seem that when we left water to live on land, they chose to live in water instead. If this is true, have they not made a greater success of their lives than we have? They have not built a single weapon of war and destruction and they never fight to the extent that we do. If that is true - how much of an embarassment are we to our Creator?

Robert Mugabe took power from Ian Smith when democracy came to Zimbabwe - at first things went well for Zimbabwe, but as with most African countries, as soon as the leader held onto power for more than 3 years, the leader became power hungry.

Our wonderful Madiba (Nelson Mandela) vowed that he would not stand for more than one period as President and then he would stand down for exactly that reason - he would not under any circumstances become power hungry.

South Africa is an example to all of the world (and I'm not saying the because I am a South African - it certainly wasn't me who did it, it was because we had the wonderful Madiba as our leader) that there can be peaceful transition from a place where turmoil rules.
Israel won't listen to this - they say that their situation is different and so the fires of war burn brightly there. That's nonsense, every country can learn the same lesson as South Africa learned at the time - you can forgive and you can compromise, no matter what your situation.
There was no fire of war waiting to burn more brightly than the one here in South Africa - the races truly hated one another and I can vouch for that, I've lived here all my life, but some exceptionally forgiving soul who was and is one of the world's greatest leaders, changed that situation overnight.
It CAN happen, things CAN be different, if only we would allow it to be the case.
But once again things are changing in South Africa, the exceptional Madiba is moving towards his inevitable death and he is losing the ground that he once won - will fighting start soon? It's possible - land is being taken from farmers as it was in Zimbabwe and there is talk of mines being taken over by government - the local electrical supply that is run by government is no longer trustworthy and electricity can no longer be relied on whether in summer or winter.
And so it is when individuals become power hungry and greed takes over. Very different when our Madiba had some control.