A Better Solution

I hate conflict. I hate fighting, arguments, war, battles, disagreements, and all that stuff. As childish as it may sound, I really do wish we could get along.

The very first Terry Pratchett novel I ever read was 'Sourcery'.

At the beginning if this book, Death, (the person) comes to the wizard Ipslor the Red.

Even at the time of his death, Ipslor is a powerful wielder of his art. Cradling his eighth and last son in his arms, he admits to Death, (the black robed, impassive, skeletal figure), "All my magic could not save her," He stares out at the gathering thunderstorm.

Death replies,

"THERE ARE PLACES EVEN MAGIC MAY NOT GO."

Ipslor looks down at his son, smiling. He says, "I would have done it all again. Children are our hope for the future." Even as he watches, the clouds darken, and roll in. The rain starts.

Death replies,

"THERE IS NO HOPE FOR THE FUTURE."

"Then what," bitterly retorts Ipslor, "is the point?" Thunder booms above. Lightening cracks in shards of light, all too close.

Death replies,

"I'M SORRY?"

Desperately near to the end of his life, Ipslor finally says, "What is it that makes life worthwhile?" The rain is heavy, the thunder now deafening.

Death thinks for a moment,

Death replies,

"CATS. CATS ARE NICE."

Ipslor curses Death. And Death evenly responds that many have. The wizard is struck on the tip of his pointy hat by a stray bolt of lightening, and dies.


I am no wizard. I hold in my hands no great power, no great skill, any more than the talents that any woman or man may possess.

I, too, have cursed death. I have used any and all the powers at my disposal to make a life stay alive. Futile as it may have been.

One time, a friend of mine was sitting with his friends. I was there.

"People criticize war, y'know. 'War, what is it good for?' and all that pacifist bullshit. What wankers. After all, armed conflict has solved many more problems than peaceful measures! I don't know how anyone could justify being against it in the modern age." and he looked right at me, in the eye. Challenging me.

His other friends all nodded in agreement, 'So true', 'too right'

I replied,

"Yes. War solves conflict. You shoot a man, he can't fight back. But that's not the point. The point is, that it causes so much death, so much suffering, so much pain and horror and sadness."

And they all said, almost in unison, "Oh yeeeeaah..."

As if it hadn't occurred to them.

I, a person who is against such actions, was just as offended as my best friend, who is part of Australia's armed forces. This was because, in his words,

"It's me and my friends who are killing and dying for them,"

I see the reason why we have men to perish for us, I have only the greatest respect for them. I see why it is that we make war. One can't just throw away one's weapons and say, "Guns are BAD" and expect to survive.

But it doesn't mean have to be satisfied. It doesn't mean we can't try to find a better solution.

I don't want to believe that liberty is a bitch, that must be bedded on a mattress of corpses. And I won't.