You should see the movie. You will find out how quality of life quickly degenerates in a war. Maslow is proved right here. Survival takes clear precedence and gives love, self actualization and esteem a very wide berth on the hierarchy of needs. Man is reduced to his animal form. People die for no reason. Children grow up overnight. Boys become killers and girls are used to satisfy the needs of all kinds of men and beasts. You see, war is not organized sport. All manner of tactics are employed by all sides. There are no umpires on ground to blow the whistle and raise a flag for unfair play. 

Civil facilities and and infrastructure are destroyed and whatever is left is stretched thin. People die from bombs, mines, bullets, machetes, hunger, disease and other associated conditions. Populations are decimated and a whole generation is destroyed. Life becomes worthless. People lose their faith. Wealth vanishes. Society gets fragmented into unproductive bits. 

At some point, people forget the reason for fighting. But it’s too late. They will keep at it until everything is totally destroyed; and like a farm burnt after a harvest, regenerate for a new season. All these happen while peaceful nations, who have learnt from this experience, continue to grow, prosper and become beneficiaries of the foolishness of warring countries. 

Those that refuse to learn from the examples of others and plunge themselves into needless strife, are set back decades. They will come to find out that in war, everyone is a loser. They will become a burden on sensible nations. After “peace”, it will take years and commitment from all sides for them to properly come to terms with the devastation and be on the path to healing, reconciliation, rebuilding, self sustenance and growth once again. 

The stories will be told. Different versions from the mental filter of the sides involved. One’s hero easily becomes another’s villain and war criminal. Even that takes nothing away from the devastation and its remnant marks. 

In the end, people who live in progressive societies will say “never again…”

SAN


Image credit: Anon