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I often think that if all people were pacifists, there would be no war. If no one agreed to take someone’s life, there would be no soldiers. What a utopia!

Recently I’ve come across news regarding an ongoing war, according to which the army of one country killed more than 3000 people from the enemy’s side – a fact the president of the “winning” country was very proud of. What I thought was nowhere near the reaction he probably expected. What I thought was: “How come a person is proud of such a tragedy?”

Because for me, war is not about pride, not about respect, and not about power. It’s about insane leaders who don’t deserve to be called leaders and tragedy at its worst.

There’s hardly a natural catastrophe that is as deadly and as horrible as war. There is nothing beautiful and nothing romantic in war. War is ugly.

When I was younger, I didn’t care much about war. I just didn’t understand what tragedy it is not only for civilians but also for soldiers – young boys who never wanted any war but were taken away from their loving families, girlfriends, wives, children – and sent to hell on Earth.

The book that changed my perception of war was A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway  – truly a masterpiece, a must-read, one of the best books I’ve ever read (and I’ve read many), and definitely, the book that changed me.

Whatever side you may take reading about a war, you’re still on the death’s side. War is not just numbers of casualties. War is:

• Pieces of human flesh lying all over a battlefield.
• Young boys dying in a pool of their own blood and blood of their friends.
• Young boys dying with their guts out in a trench full of mud.
• Civilians caved in basements of their houses hiding from bombs.
• Civilian families hiding from soldiers who are coming to shoot them.
• Military doctors cutting off an 18-year-old soldier’s leg because the infection has already started.
• Refugees drowning in cold water along with an exploded ship.

― Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque is another prominent author from the Lost Generation. I strongly recommend to read his anti-war novels All Quiet on the Western Front, Three Comrades, Arch of Triumph, A Time to Love and a Time to Die and others.  

It’s quite odd that with two world wars as examples that were supposed to teach humanity how meaningless, stupid, and ugly war is, people still fight.

I always wonder why religious people take part in warfare. War is not about love, not about forgiveness, not about light, not about compassion, not about happiness, not about kindness…So, in what way is war godly then? I don’t belong to any religion, yet I can’t understand what drives people to act violently.

No territory in the world, no idea is worth a war. I am not ready to sacrifice my life, happiness, purpose in life, my spirituality and good karma for a sick idea of an insane so-called leader. If he wants a war – let him go alone or send his children to war. We were born free and we were brought to this world to develop and grow spiritually and not to fight for meaningless worldly matters suffering from physical pain and killing other innocent people.

Supporting war and being proud of the amount of destruction caused or number of casualties in 2020 is a sign of ignorance. Of course all people are on different levels spiritually. The purpose of this website is to spread mindfulness and promote sanity, spirituality, kindness, happiness, forgiveness. If people all over the world start reading books like those I mentioned in this article, if people start taking responsibility for their own lives, start practicing mindfulness instead of fighting each other and feeding their demons, our world will become a happy and safe place without suffering. We are able to build a utopia if we begin to develop and grow spiritually.

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