Do you ever watch Family Feud? Or Jeopardy? Or any other game show where people stand with their hands on buzzers, ready to chime in and take their chance on answering the question correctly? It’s exciting. Which one will buzz in first? Will they answer correctly? What will it mean to the overall game?
Who takes home the big prize? And who just goes home?
I watched a TV show once where game shows were presented as a scale model of war. You slam your hand down on the button, hoping you get there before the other guy… but neither side can ever be certain what the outcome will be. I quote:
“Every war ever fought right there in front of you. Because it’s always the same. When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who’s going to die. You don’t know whose children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does what they’re always going to have to do from the very beginning—sit down and talk!” – Doctor Who
And he was right.
I watch or read the news every day, and every day it’s the same. War and conflict throughout the world. Real people deciding that the lives of other real people are worth risking, or outright sacrificing, for some political goal. And people die. And no one can be certain who, or how many, or when it will stop.
It’s just cruelty. Cruelty borne of fear—of cowardice.
So often we rate a nation’s strength by how much military might it possesses. The country with the most bombs and the most guns is always the strongest. They pride themselves on it. But I just feel pity for that kind of thinking. Because, to me, weapons do not show strength. They show weakness. They say to the world, “I am not strong enough to fix real problems with real solutions. I am not strong enough to lift myself out of a history of violence. I am not strong enough to live in love and peace with those around me. I am weak. And I will attack, so that I never have to learn strength.”
I have a deep respect for all who have served and do serve in our military. It is they who sacrifice and are sacrificed. And I pray that they are directed wisely by those in power, in defence and justice. I have never served, but I believe that the personal hope of any soldier, in any place, is that none are needed after them: that peace is final and complete.
But the wars continue. And people are still dying.
It’s not a game.
The only prize is peace.
And so very many never get to go home.
