We are the End of War

The situation is miserable," Arasl's Deputy Mayor, Ahmad Flitti, told the New York Times.  "Now the shelters are full.  Soon we are going to to have shortages in drugs, and hospitals here will not be able to receive more wounded."

I like to refer to LOST and, in particular, one quote by Jack Sheppard (the show's stand-in for Jesus), because it is a perfect modern adaptation of a parable that's older than time:

It's been six days... and we're still waiting.  Waiting for someone to come.  Well, what if they don't?  We have to stop waiting.  We need to start figuring things out.  

Those who would make war, or would step on the throats of their supposed foes will tell us that's exactly what they're doing.  There's no time, we are right, they are wrong, ends justify the means, etc.  This is how escalation happens.

Despite what the warriors of the world tell themselves, they aren't the boss - they are slaves to the ancient drives of their brain, the Id, the devil on their shoulder.

What has every bad guy in every tale done but seek total control by defeating and oppressing their foe?  

There's meaning in this that isn't about good or bad, but about survival, evolution and society.

People are designed to put their own interests first, Ayn-Rand style, but only up to a point.  It's a point we passed long ago, though the drive remains with us like an emotional appendix.

Every man for himself is not gonna work.  It's time to start organizing.  We need to figure out how we're gonna survive here.

Here - the world in which we find ourselves, without the support of an external network, a supreme being or compliant resources.  In the Bible, it's the world beyond the Garden; in LOST, it's the island.  

For us, it is everywhere we find ourselves on this earth.

Of course we have started organizing, and we are iterating ways to survive here. Migration, technology, socialization, infrastructure, government, community and religion are all examples of this. Newer to our design but no less important is the urge to be part of something greater than ourselves, to communicate, to belong.  

I'll take a group in at first light.  If you don't wanna come, then find another way to contribute.  Last week most of us were strangers.  But we're all here now, and God knows how long we're gonna be here.

But if we can't live together, we're gonna die alone.

When any individual tries to be top dog, they will step on others.  When any one community, however it self-defines, feels entitled by superiority to more - more resources, more rights, more land - others suffer, but also fight back.

What happens in war?  The things that hold humans apart - infrastructure, care for the weak, medicine - all those things fade away.  Famine, pestilence, disease are all products of war, which is itself a game of dominance.

We're seeing what happens when we choose not to live together in the Middle East, which is a sad irony.

It doesn't matter to me whether you focus on the science or the faith, they both amount to the same thing - we are stronger together.  We can only survive together.

Not like cogs in a wheel; we're not machines - but as parts of the social ecosystem.

Like a garden.