Happy Veterans Day!
Got into a little discussion on
Facebook about war by making this statement, "Just watched a PBS special on war monuments from around the world, very moving. In war there are no "winners", unless you count the bankers!"
As the thread developed, one of my friends said this, "Eric? Where do you weigh in? I never knew you were anti-war."
Here was my response.
Both of my Grandfathers fought in wars. Neither could bring themselves to share with me the unspeakable things they saw. Those memories had to die when they died. I support our troops 100% and always try to thank those who serve our country proudly! As a teen I considered, with a friend of mine, going into the military; God had other plans.
Just to clarify what I was talking about let me take a moment!
While I was watching a PBS special on the war memorials around the world, I could not help but think of who the actual winners were in a war. When you see footage of both American and foreign troops being bombed from above and cut down by machine gun fire ahead, while trying to storm hills, invade beaches, and gain ground, a myriad of emotions go through your mind. As they told the number of lives lost at each battle, it reminded me that in war, nobody wins! We loose lots of lives, they loose lots of lives. Obviously there is a "victor" but nobody "wins". War is not a one on one gamble with the victor taking all and the looser walking away with nothing. In war, even the victor looses something!
The only real “winner” who did not loose anything is the person who financed one or both sides of the war. The Bankers! The money that is used to fight a war is vaporized! It is NOT like borrowing money to buy an asset that will be sold at a later date. War forces citizens to borrow money that has to be repaid with interest with nothing left at the end. All the tanks, ships, ammo, and gear is useless after the war is over. Sure it stimulates the economy, but it is a false stimulation that the taxpayer himself is paying for!
Cost of WW1 – 22.6 billion (1915 dollars) which is the same as
470 billion dollars today!Cost of WW2 – 288 billion (1945 dollars) which is the same as
3.4 trillion dollars today! You might say that it was a semantics issue because of my 140 character limit on
twitter, but I still say that in war, there are no “winners”, except the bankers.
Lives lost in WW1 – estimates are between 9 and 16 million
Lives lost in WW2 – estimates are between 50 to 70 million
Is war right or wrong? Well the Bible teaches that we should defend ourselves! War of aggression bad, war of defense good!
I am not against war in itself as a defense, but I still hate it when it comes to that.