Echoes of War, Cries for peace

- Lalitha Sri Pinapala, XII

 

War- bloodshed, thousands of lives lost, millions of dreams crushed, darkness spread like a blanket over light, red covered over merry colors that are supposed to cover the earth. There's no winning and losing. There's only dead people on the both sides. They say God exists and wants goodness to prevail. Is this what God really would've wanted on earth?

 

War and peace. Seems like War and peace coexist in the same sentence only when it comes to a title of the book. Greediness blinds us all, unaware about the heights to which we can climb to get what we want, to fulfill our desires at a price that's higher than we can ever repay.

 

War- destruction, death, distress, darkness, displacement. Imagine the myriad rays of light beneath the war debris. The common people suffer the inevitable consequences and the trauma of the aftermath. When someone kills a person, they kill their dreams and a part of them that exists with their family and loved ones.

 

The adverse effects of wars are significant.

In the World War 1, approximately 8.5 million soldiers perished, during the World War 2, estimates range from 35 million to 60 million, with the Soviet Union and China suffering the highest casualties. The Vietnam War also had a huge cost in human lives. More than 1.3 million Vietnamese soldiers and about 58,000 U.S. troops were killed. More than 2 million civilians also died.

 

This shows the significant impact on humans lives, civilians who died an undeserved death.

 

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children."

 

-Jimmy Carter, The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture.

 

We are aware of the cruelty of war and yet we choose War, even though a peaceful path lies in front of us.

It's high time we reflect on our past and shape the present in a peaceful manner. Peace can prevail with mere understanding, tragedy can be replaced with tranquility.