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Well, in school were doing alot of stuff on the Civil war. It's really interesting. I'm learning alot that I didn't know about. Well, were doing a seminar tomorrow and I was wondering how people would respond to this question...
If you believe you are right, and your cause is just, is war an acceptable coice? A productive choice? The best choice?
By the way, If you would like a good read on the Civil war, Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is awesome.

I agree with that. War is very horrible, my dad was in Iraq not too long ago. I think that it is one of the faults with human nature. There will always be someone too closed minded or too stubborn, and unfortunately it leads to war.

There are no blacks and whites on anything, we only have a bunch of grays.

I know this is off topic, I apologize for that but it seems like the perfect place to post this. Whether you support what is going on in the middle east or not our troops are there. They are our Mothers and Fathers, Sisters and Brothers, Sons and Daughters. They deserve our support throughout the year and especially at this time of the year.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."

This poem was written by a Marine stationed in Okinawa Japan.

Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S.
service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let's try in a small way to pay a tiny bit of what we
owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who
sacrificed themselves for us.

That was a very touching poem. I liked it alot.
Like I said before, totally getting rid of war is just an impossible fantasy, war has been around ever since men have but we do try to avoid it whenever possible. I would like to know however, when is war an acceptable of even a good alternative? And what is a good alternative when negotiations fail? We had that seminar that I mentioned earlier today and some interesting views came up, including this question. One conclusion I came up with was that war is justifyable when a communities/countrys/peoples way of life, or just plain exststance is in jepordy, but I'd like to know what others think of this question, because my little theory is kind of shaky and I'd love to hear inputs and discuss more.

I'm pretty much against war but I concede that sometimes it's the only way. I've also noticed that when major wars happen humanity seems to leap forward in one way or another. For example, in World War 2 we saw the development of the first computer, not for the uses it has now but primarily as a tool for war, to crack the German codes. Now days it's altered the very way we live and allowed us to leap forward technologically. But if World War 2 didn't happen, even if the computer still was invented, we'd likely be years behind what we are today. The internet was designed for warfare use as well, but was adapted for everyday use just like the computer.
Which begs the question, if you could go back and stop any war in history, would you, knowing you could save many lives (depending on the war) but also possibly destroy life as we know it today?

As for battle strategies, I'll stick with medievil war strategies for now, much simpler, haven't caught up with using all the new technology yet.

Vietnam was always a questionable action from the start, however when you consider that the war began because of a "reported" attack on an US Navy ship, which later proved false, at least you can understand how we got from adviser status to combatant. Korea was fought to stop the spread of communism and at least prove we were up to it. As much as it was a stalemate it was a necessary war.

The only way to truly prevent/stop war is to make sure that all segments of society are committed to it. There should be no deferments for college, taxes should be levied to pay for it. We're in the fix we're in because none of us are sacrificing. If this was costing us personally we'd feel much stronger than we already do.

yeah i have to agree on the natural violence becaucse all philosophies on the "state of nature" is that all humans have the willingness to use violence to achieve their goals which are going to be selfcentered because of what the "state of nature" is like