Or pretty much any other book about war…
“Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.”
Yoda, the fictional old master of space-saber hippies
He’s right, this Yoda!
And everyone can probably think of a reason why I’m bringing this up now.
Someone will surely say it’s because of the Hamas attack on Israel.
Or because the invasion war against Ukraine isn’t over yet.
A clear “yes and no”.
Somehow, there’s always war: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_von_Kriegen
Quite a lot has accumulated there. And every single one is incredibly cruel. The idea of war is violence.
And these are “only” the wars that at some point might have played a role for someone in Central Europe.
Then there’s America, Australia, Asia… So every other part of the world.
In short:
Without cease, we humans inflict the cruelest things upon each other.
We kill each other. Displace, mutilate, torture, torment each other. We take away each other’s livelihoods.
My living situation is… comfortable.
No one is shelling me right now. I’m not starving right now.
I don’t wish death and misery upon anyone, neither in person nor as a “group of people with some commonality”.
I can’t even imagine such a thing. Neither side.
But from my position, this occupies my thoughts.
Firstly, because I completely lack the imagination for it. Fortunately.
Secondly, because I observe the developments in the time I live with suspicion.
And it’s quite clear to me that this text will probably change nothing, absolutely nothing.
I would be very surprised, at least.
This text, this post, might explain a little why I do what I do.
Why I want to prefer. Why I look at our time with concern.
And because I feel that this post wants to be written.
It begins with fear
It doesn’t matter whether it’s “real” fear or “just felt” fear. The feeling itself is enough.
Fear can have many reasons.
Uncertainty, for example. Be it about oneself, one’s own abilities. Or the political situation. Or when it comes to health.
Perhaps also worries about the future. About a loved one.
Or the feeling of being powerless.
Fear is a very quiet but potent poison.
Fear insidiously creeps into all thoughts and calls itself “caution,” “foresight,” or “preparedness.”
Fear seems small. But with fear, everything turns bitter.
It is terrible to be afraid.
Those who are afraid need comfort.
Those who are afraid need someone to say: “Don’t be afraid!” and “You are not alone!” and “You are loved!” and “We can do this together!”
Those who fear enough become angry
Unconsciously. Possibly to overcome the feeling of fear.
The image of an angry person is already perceived as “more powerful” than that of a fearful one.
Anger is like many small fires that you can warm yourself by.
They give light and feed on “the others” and on “but they have.”
Those who are angry feel a warmth and energy where there was just emptiness and cold… Something powerful, something hungrily growing.
Anger devours. Without regard.
Anger wants out. Anger wants to break free. Anger wants to direct itself outwards, at others.
And anger will find a target.
Anger no longer wants to be comforted.
Anger does not want to calm down!
An angry person needs to work through something.
The fire must take away its own foundation and die down.
Every time anger almost runs out of fuel, only a small trigger is enough, and anger strengthens again without limits.
Only when anger sleeps can it perhaps be driven away and replaced by something beautiful.
But anger also leaves scars, at best calluses, on one’s soul.
It takes time to heal. A lot of time.
If these wounds cannot heal, everything changes.
Those who are ashes inside can become the fire themselves
It no longer matters what the beginning was.
Or if there even was a beginning.
Those who hate feel no fire. They are the fire.
A cold fire. It does not warm. It gives no energy.
Hate is calculating.
Hate needs no reason and no occasion.
Hate sustains and nourishes itself.
Hate constantly reinvents itself.
Those who hate can hardly touch anything without laying it waste.
Those who hate have lost at least as much as they inflict on others.
Hate tolerates no winners.
In the end, there is misery
Hate destroys.
Indiscriminately. The hater as well as the hated.
It is hate that makes it seem plausible to annihilate others.
The result is war.
There are many different kinds of war.
Big, small, hot, cold. With words, with deeds. Between a few. Between nations.
What there isn’t: A winner.
War leaves openly festering wounds. Wounds that ache for generations.
Wounds that burn into the collective memory of cultures.
More fear. More anger. More hate.
Hunger. Sickness.
Grief. Sadness.
Meaninglessness and death.
Silence.
Making peace
One person is peaceful. But two make peace.
Peace can be made at any time. It’s just difficult to varying degrees.
…If two people meet only in spirit and on equal terms.
Peace must be wanted.
Peace grows on compassion. Peace grows where forgiveness is not in vain.
And what must you and I do for it?
Love!
Prefer! Reciprocate love!
War is simply awful!
Please love your neighbor.
Please act according to the maxim that you would want to become a universal law.
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