The Strategy for Making Peace

"Remember the Maine, To Hell with Spain!" 1898, "Don't read American history – make it!" 1918, "a day that will live in infamy" 1941, "cold war" 1945, "police action" (Korea) 1950, (Kermit Roosevelt Jr. to Iran) 1953, (advisors to Vietnam) 1955. We are really good at getting involved in the history of the world. It's possible that what we're living in is the best of all possible worlds. If you think perpetual war is an unavoidable consequence of human nature—something that we all should just get used to, then please don't RSVP; I'd hate for your time to be wasted when there's another conflict to prepare for.

Still here? Watch this https://youtu.be/x2Dxsor0Xbs

It's always important to define terms. Clausewitz called it Politics by Other Means. And America's most decorated solder referred to it as a Racket https://archive.org/details/war_is_a_racket_1903_librivox War can break out anywhere but Peace starts in the individual, and from there moves its way out to the family, tribe, community, all the way out to the nation, and finally then the world.

Peace is the product of Justice. I don't think there will be full and universal justice within my lifetime. However, for those areas under my personal, limited, domain of control I can ask: is this just? Starting with my person, my history or my present person, I can ask: was that or is this just behavior? If I am carrying memories of past injustice, persisting to today, how can I be at peace? The same can be asked about my family, the groups I'm member to, the place I live in, the country I live in, the world. Who can serve the world? Through choices each can do things which make the world a more peaceful place, starting by working to correct whatever wrongs may be coming out of self. Without peace in the self, and active encouragement through example, how could anyone hope to see peace in the world around them?

There are further resources in the Central Florida Philosophy Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Central-Florida-Philosophy/events/264624940