We are addicted to war

“Blessed are the peacemakers , for they will be called children of God” Matthew 5:9

“But to those who are listening, I say., ‘Love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you.’” Matthew 6:27.

I am a Mennonite who is a pacifist. I believe that whenever we go to war, we have failed as a society and community. None of us want to go to war, but we often do not use the resources of peacemaking that we have, to lessen the chance of going to war.  I am not telling the government to become pacifist, because that is not what nations are called to do. But, if the government of Canada is going to have a military, then I believe that we have the obligation to make them accountable for their actions.

The United States has been at war with Iraq and Afghanistan since 1991 and 1993. In Iraq, 4,486 U.S soldiers have been killed, and in Afghanistan 2,345 soldiers have been killed. Many more have been injured during these wars, and they are maimed for life . Soldiers are honoured for their service, but are treated badly by the Veterans Administration, when they arrive back home . It is estimated that between 1.7- 4 trillion dollars have been spent. We have killed Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, and yet we have not won anything. The U.S. ( and Canada ) still have troops in both countries helping to train the local militaries. In the other conflicts( Syria, Egypt, Yemen ) in the area, we might have spent  $6 trillion altogether . And now Canada wants to spend more on the  military,  to solve the problems of the world.  

On Monday morning on CNN, a U.S. military officer said that all the land you see in the distance is controlled by the Taliban. And they come into the city everyday because we do not know who they are. After 14 years , spending trillions of dollars , having thousands of troops killed or injured, the same land is controlled by the same people. If we were running a business, and the government is not a business, we would have stooped this kind of spending with nothing to show for it, a long time ago. And now Canada is going to increase its spending on the military in order to attempt to bring more peace.

So , why do we continue to fight ? We want to win. We want to  have power over others. We think that our superior military prowess will make people fear us, and then they will do what we want them to do. And we are addicted to war. We want to test out new systems, so that we will know that they work. War correspondents are addicted to war as well. They get the adrenalin rush when they are in a war zone. I am addicted to conflict and war . While living in Thailand I was addicted to the war in Cambodia. While the war in Iraq was at its most intense, I had a US soldier death counter on my computer , so I knew everyday how many soldiers had died.

Jesus models for us a different way. It is the harder way when the society is telling us to kill all those Afghans and Iraqis. We have billions of dollars wrapped up in defence spending. What would it look like for us to use it to love our enemies. That is too naive, we will just go on ,as usual, killing the enemy, and not getting any closer to peace.