No one is born to hate

 - Tiasa Santra, XII

“No one is born to hate, they're made to hate.”

Hate is a learned behavior. In times of war, it's easy to demonize the enemy, but the truth is that most people are not born with hatred in their hearts. The soldiers on both sides of a conflict often share similar hopes, dreams and fears. They're someone's child, parent or loved one. Yet in the chaos of battle, it's easy to forget the humanity in the “enemy”. Maybe we've never heard the story of their side. 

War is a conflict between the authorities or the people with power, but it is the common people who have to suffer or face the consequences. It's easier to share posts of hatred online, but we cannot imagine the situation of the people on the other side.

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

   - Nelson Mandela

The history of the two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is terribly painful. In less than a minute, the two cities were destroyed. Nearly 100,000 to 200,000 people had died and there was extensive destruction. The common innocent people had to give their lives. The two cities were rebuilt without any hate for America. There's a lot to learn from Japan for how far we've come in just one generation. They don't hate because, according to them, ‘peace does not flow from hate’. 

Few recent ongoing wars have led to devastating consequences. It's been three years since the Russia-Ukraine war started, killing thousands of innocent civilians. The Israel-Palestine conflict led to millions displaced from their homes. People of Gaza have been neglected from access to aid and basic necessities. Civilians are constantly living under fear of losing their lives, loved ones and home. 

In the midst of conflict, it's the common people who struggle to find food, shelter, and safety. They're forced to flee their homes, leaving behind everything they've ever known. Families torn apart by conflict and displacement, children orphaned, injured, or forced to become soldiers.

In history, we've witnessed such wars and their impacts leading to uncountable deaths and global destruction, still we fail to learn from them and create peace among nations and communities. All of these started from hatred towards a nation, race, culture, religion or greed for power and competition for territory. We cannot change the past, but we must make sure that such tragedies are not repeated in the future.

We see the soldiers’ sacrifices and struggles, but we never get to know what they and their family and loved ones have to go through and the things they had to face on the battlefield. It is unimaginable. For each and every soldier on the battlefield, for people living in war-affected areas, it is a question of life and death. War is never an option. War is a disgrace to humanity.  Every person wants to live together in peace without any hatred towards any other nation. The war will end one day, but the lives lost are never going to come back. 

On one hand, the expenditure of war is rising. Meanwhile, the pressing issues of the world such as poverty are neglected and remain unaddressed. As we reflect on the consequences of war, let's not forget the human faces behind the statistics. Let's honor the resilience of those who've done anything and everything to create a world free from wars and want peace. 

Let's reimagine a world where resources are allocated to uplift humanity, not perpetuate destruction and peace prevails.