Growing up in our society, I was taught that people who think human beings are naturally peaceful and that world peace can become a reality are naïve. But when I studied and experienced war, I learned that people who believe we are naturally violent are truly naïve. It is easy to believe we are naturally violent if all of our knowledge about war comes from Hollywood, television, and video games. In reality, however, war drives most people insane, the greatest problem of every army is how to stop soldiers from running away, and most people are terrified of violence when they experience it up close and personal.
In my book Will War Ever End?, I thoroughly refute the myth that human beings are naturally violent, and I show that world peace can become more than a cliché. One reason I wrote this book is because today, myths of war are all around us, and together we can do something about it. Just as the myths that women are intellectually inferior to men and most slaves are happy being slaves have been dispelled for the most part, we can show people the truth about war and violence. Perhaps the greatest myth of all, which threatens the survival of our country and planet, is the belief that once we begin a war we can control it. By its very nature, war is something that is out of control. War at its essence is chaotic and unpredictable.
Many people think of war as a game that brilliant generals can control on a chess board. But for even the most brilliant general, war is a gamble of Russian roulette. Rather than seeing war as a game of chess where strategy and tactics can completely control the outcome, we must dispel this myth and see war as it truly is. War is a gamble of Russian roulette where the stakes are high and we only control the outcome to a limited degree.
In the army, there is a saying that all of our plans go out the window when the first bullet is fired. During World War I, the German generals created detailed war plans as they tried to script the entire war like a play, but when World War I began they saw their plans quickly disintegrate. As history has shown, the chaos of war cares little for our plans.
When we do have good planning, brilliant generals, well trained soldiers, and a technologically advanced military, this only reduces the odds of disaster. In a gamble of Russian roulette, it is like having one bullet in our revolver. But when we initiate a war with poor planning, a lack of understanding for the local culture, a small military, and soldiers who are not properly equipped with armored vehicles, as we did in 2003 during the invasion of Iraq, it is like having three, four, or five bullets in our revolver. War can always backfire and explode in our faces, and we can only control the odds, never the outcome.
When people ask me if I think we will succeed in Afghanistan, I remind them that nobody knows whether our military tactics will work in Afghanistan. Nobody knows whether Iraq and Afghanistan will be peaceful in five years, because when a war begins there are so many factors we cannot control. When a person arrogantly believes he can predict the future by telling us how a war will end before it even begins, this person does not take war seriously and believes he is playing chess when he is actually playing Russian roulette. This dangerous scenario occurred in 2003, when the American public was told the Iraqis would all greet us as liberators, Iraq would quickly become a healthy democracy and a beacon of hope for the Middle East, and the war would practically pay for itself through increased oil revenues. As we all know, this did not happen. Although I am still hopeful for the future of Iraq, its future remains uncertain because no human being can predict with certainty the outcome of war.
Russian roulette is a dangerous way to solve our problems, because the risks of war are catastrophic and suicidal. For example, World Wars I and II started as local conflicts but quickly spread into global massacres, and every war that begins has this same potential for international catastrophe. Instead of gambling with human lives, waging peace is a much more effective and reliable way to solve our problems.
Unlike the suicidal gamble of waging war, waging peace is like a wrestling match. When we wrestle a much larger opponent, as Martin Luther King Jr. did when he challenged racial segregation, he was able to wear his opponent out with determination and persistence. His opponent tried to hold him down with police dogs, fire hoses, and violence, but our most cherished ideals cannot be held down forever. His much larger opponent tired quickly by relying on violence, while ideals such as freedom, justice, and peace inspire our human spirit, never grow tired, and give us more energy as new challenges arise.
When we wage peace, the worst case scenario is that our peaceful tactics don't work, or that our opponents will suppress our message with violence because they are afraid. In the violent gamble of war, on the other hand, the worst case scenario is disaster for our entire country or World War III.
Waging peace is similar to jiu-jitsu, which is a martial art I have studied and practiced for many years. Jiu-jitsu is known as "the gentle art." Like waging peace, jiu-jitsu is a way to completely subdue your opponents without hurting them. It is a way to defeat a much larger person by using leverage, technique, and turning their own strengths against them. Just as there are thousands of ways to submit your opponent in jiu-jitsu, there are thousands of ways to wage peace, because this proven and effective method is limited only by our imagination and creativity.
Together we must dispel the myths that human beings are naturally violent and that war is inevitable. We must also dispel the myth that war will never end. Not only can we end war, but we must end war if humanity is going to survive. By dispelling the myths of war, we can also understand how waging peace not only enables us to solve the problem of war. Waging peace gives us the means and the strength to overcome the greatest challenges that threaten us in the 21st century.
To learn more about how we can wage peace and create a brighter future, please read my book Will War Ever End?: A Soldier's Vision of Peace for the 21st Century and visit my web-site, www.willwareverend.com.