THE MISTAKE OF MANKIND
“Like evolution, history disregards the happiness of individual organisms. And individual humans, for their part, are usually far too ignorant and weak to influence the course of history to their own advantage.” – Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Sapiens
The available information about the lives of the first people on Earth reveals that life is cyclical. Human needs remain the same; only the approach to addressing those needs has evolved. Nowadays, the world has advanced tremendously in modern science and capitalism. The odd riddle is that we don’t seem to learn anything from our ancestors about finding and preserving peace.
Something that intrigues me is seeing powerful people shed the blood of others mercilessly, as if they have the final say over life and death. They act like little gods on Earth, knowing full well they too will die. No one has ever been powerful or rich enough to buy an undying lifetime here on Earth. It’s as if they think, “Let me speed up your destiny; I didn’t bring you here, but as long as I live, I command your being,” even though they won’t stay either. And you ask yourself, when is this insanity going to end?
Even though such people deliver what awaits us all (death), they can choose how. As far as I’m aware, human beings understand the meaning of torture. From the colonies (how white people treated black people) to the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and still today, if you are condemned to suffer, trust me you surely will!
How can anyone think of themselves as indispensable, holding power to cause war, blow someone’s head off, or destroy a whole nation in the name of protection, financial security, and self-actualization at the expense of the many? How does this keep happening on our watch?
When I was in high school, I met two unemployed adult women with undergraduate degrees. They were sharing their journey after finishing university and their struggles to find a job. I heard them wishing for a war. I interrupted them.
“A what?”
“A war. Do you know how many opportunities people get from war?”
“But you could be killed.”
“I would, or get a job. It’s one of the above.”
To my knowledge, the only thing I learned in class is that war causes horror, death, economic losses, rubble, etc. But I didn’t realize that war is not a natural disaster. It is wished for, planned, and financed. Out of war, a few people make fortunes, create businesses, and make enormous profits. Who am I to change the game?
One of the noble careers is the military, right? An impressive job, saving lives, saving the world! Oh my God! Who wouldn’t admire such a job? But saving the world from what? Aliens, animals, thunder? A living human being fighting another human being of the same size, sometimes even smaller. Because of what? Power. Of who? A group of people believing they are more important than the rest of the nation or the rest of the entire world. It is never about the number of civilians or soldiers. They too take commands. To me, soldiers are the biggest risk-takers for a preventable cause. They know every day can be their last, but they keep on doing and dying unless there’s a sign of prelude.
Wars are associated with civilian mortality all over the world. A survey conducted by BMC Medicine indicates that war from 1990 to 2017 is associated with a substantial indirect mortality impact among civilians globally, with children most severely burdened. (BMC Medicine research, 2020)
Losing life at what cost? The nuclear machines must be used, money must be made, and honor must be retained. When militants come back alive, they are highly praised for a job well done, but that reward can vanish if they mess up with the Master. All the praises are silenced except for the truth of what they’ve really done deep inside their hearts. Some of them walk with minds brimming with guilt until they die.
The U.N. human rights agency announced in June 2023 that it had recorded 9,083 civilian deaths in Ukraine since the conflict began, but noted that the real toll is probably significantly higher than the number it can adequately document.
Let’s move to Africa.
Researchers at Ghent University estimated that in 2022 the war in Tigray may have led to the deaths of up to 600,000 people since it began in 2020, including deaths caused by related issues such as starvation and a loss of access to health care, not to mention the economic loss. (A Historical rise in global conflict, The Washington Post, 2023)
In sub-Saharan Africa, Mali recorded the largest deterioration, with conflict-related deaths increasing by 154%, while violence against civilians rose by 570%. This number continues to rise. (Vision Of Humanity report, 2023)
I understand that war gives no choice; either you fight and kill people or you don’t and lose people. Isn’t there any way to eliminate the cause? Is the UN Geneva meeting effective? Yes, they provide convincing speeches, protocols, and resolutions, but the problem remains unresolvable. The funny part is, we all contribute towards these wars through taxes.
In a blink, an individual with authority might wipe out financial records, cause economic instability, cut doctors’ and teachers’ salaries for months, and make the public pay the price for decisions made in rooms they were not invited into.
“Only those who must suffer should have the right to vote,” said Maj Gen Smedley D. Butler in his book War is a Racket. Do soldiers give their honest opinion in those meetings?
There are people who, for their entire lifetime, know only war. From birth to death, they might think all people in the world are doing their best to save them, but what we can collectively do is sometimes pray for them and mumble when we hear what’s happening to them. Some of us write documentaries; others make films about it (often portrayed with drama, because the truth is kept confidential). If you don’t agree, see the number of journalists and intellectuals who tried to reveal the truth and have been abruptly murdered or are suffering in prisons. And it’s absurd; none of the above serves as a lesson to make it stop when the coercive people are creating situations where it pays to keep the war going.
Some people do not know their country of origin because they’ve been refugees all their lives.
UN aid organizations, humanitarian agencies, and non-profit organizations can deceive their objectives. Observing the budget of a given project and realizing the value of the support provided to the beneficiaries is just insane. Over a course of time, you will notice the escalation of the head of the agency’s lifestyle rather than the promised life-changing initiatives for the community. They don’t bother inviting media to cover the big ceremonies of the “funds” gained, famous people photographed with poor children. For instance, I found out that the World Food Programme gives one cup of beans to each individual living in a refugee camp (depending on the social class you’re in) that will last a month, clearly under it’s operational freedom. Excuse my language but how absurd is that?
Simply put, when the system is profit-driven (if we are honest), what else can we expect? But that isn’t alarming until people move to something more dangerous – indifference. We have embraced the system.
I once attended an International Conference on Non-Communicable Diseases. A young man posed a question about the high consumption of alcohol among people, especially young people, at the watch of the government. Why does the country keep importing drinks with high percentages of alcohol (40% and above) and allow immense advertisements? I was 20 years old at the time, and I was among the young people consuming alcohol, so it rang a bell. The guest intervened with this excuse that alcohol is among imported products that generate taxes, so the country can’t stop the importation of it, and that people should drink responsibly. In my head, I thought, what’s the point of this conference if we are here to defend our mistakes? We have to choose; there’s no both saving the young population and investing in the promotion of alcohol industries; it’s literally impossible to escape.
Many times, adolescents and young people are blamed for consuming drugs when there are known influential people cultivating, propagating, and harvesting these substances. How many young people are imprisoned for marijuana consumption? How many young people produce it? Why don’t you cut the supply at its source?
Well, do I have a cure for these concerns? Let’s go back to the basics: let’s take one-sided profit out of the equation. Let’s stick to the oaths we made in front of the people and God, those remain impeccable.
