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29.08.2006 Feature Article

Wars aren’t problem solvers

AuthorAuthor
29.08.2006 LISTEN

...That Aint No Joke

Back in my early childhood days, I used to watch TV on Sunday evenings the "Akan Drama" episodes collectively titled Osofo Dadzie. Right before each episode, the curtain raiser was a musical anthem titled "We are going, Heaven Knows Where we are going… We know we will."
You could imagine how as children, on hearing that anthem play we would put a stop to everything to watch Osofo Dadzie, by rushing to get a better seat close to the very few TV screens in our rural areas.
Certainly, we are going, but only heaven knows where we are going. And that ain't a joke at all. But on this trip, many feel somewhat lost. They keep asking such pertinent questions as, how did our turbulent world get to this point? Where are we heading? What will be the outcome of it all? And so on and so forth.

Personally, I feel that we are surely in The Last Days. Realities such as diseases, natural disasters like hurricanes Katrina, Ivan, and Jean, crime, gossiping and the telling of lies about our fellow men, leave us all wondering about what the future holds for us.
Worse of all, there is WARFARE the world over has never seen before. Hemingway referred to World War I, 1914 –1919, as “the most colossal murderous mismanaged butchery that has ever taken place”. Then in 1939-1945, came World War II much more catastrophic than the first one.
A few years after migrating to Canada, I had a shock of my life - seeing right before my very eyes, what I termed as World War III - the United States war against Iraq, when Saddam Hussein was in power.

In 2001 came another disaster, the World Trade Center 's destruction in broad daylight, killing nearly four thousand people, including women and children. We could all give account on the Israelis war against the Palestinians. How on earth could normal human beings wrap themselves with suicide bomb not only to kill their foes, but also to kill themselves? But that is the stark reality of war.
Then there is the ongoing World War IV between the Americans and Iraqi insurgents, which may never end.

So why are we waging war against each other? What are we looking for? Is it Cash Money, Petroleum products; is it Power or Absolute Power and Supremacy over one another?
Unfortunately, if we look in our mirror we will see that we already have in our possession all the things we are fighting for. So let us stop the wars!
When Kofi Anan revealed the illegalities in the war against the Americans and the Iraqis He got blamed for blaspheming. But how wrong could he have been? Simply put maybe he should have made it plain that Wars ARE NOT Problem Solvers. Period!!

I couldn't agree more with Bob Marley when he said, "Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war." And again until there no longer is the age old first and second class citizens of any nation… and until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance to the color of his eyes, there will always be war.”

But then again until our basic human rights are guaranteed to all without regard to race, there will always be War. Everywhere will be War.
But is war a solution to mankind's problems? Of course not. We don't need any more trouble. If we looked back on destructive events in Haiti, Jamaica, Florida, the Tsunami and others, then we could ask of Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina Andrew and Jean, why?

Everything that people had acquired over their lifetimes was completely destroyed. So if it is mere wealth or supremacy that we keep fighting for, then remember, we could loose everything including our life within a split second, when Ivan and Jean arrive.
If you live in Canada, you may say, there is peace, because the hurricanes are not rampant here. But I simply hate to remind you of the province-wide 'blackout' which occurred two years ago. It was not much fun at all. In fact that ain't a joke at all.

The blackout happened quite suddenly. I was in the subway when it occurred. It was as if a giant had flicked a switch and turned off all the lights in the province. Homes, buildings, and streets were in total darkness. That 's why the power failure was called a blackout.

People sat glued to their transistor radios in rooms dimly lit by whatever candles they could find. But it was not just the lights that did not work. Elevators couldn't run, leaving many people stranded high up in high-rise buildings. Traffic signals couldn't work; causing long lines of cars that didn't know where to stop. Subway trains stalled. The second day of the blackout many people questioned themselves, could this be Armageddon? Most work places were closed down. Bank machines would not work
So, if you had millions of dollars in the bank, we were all in the same boat at that time, in the dark, with no cash.

Then people started miraculously performing acts of kindness to each other. They now know that we are going but only heaven knows where we are going…
To sum it all up, we don't need wars to find solutions to the world problems. In place of war, let us show love towards one another. There is no mistake in love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common fiber of life, the flame that heats our souls, supplies passion to our lives, and energizes our spirits. It is our connection to God and to each other. A simple kindness towards one another in place of war creates peace. And there will be peace abundant for you, the entire human race and me. This I tell you, ain't no joke at all.


William Boateng aka: Paa Willie
Editor in Chief / Publisher / CEO
The Global Mirror
Toronto, Canada

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