Chaos, fake news and easy living.

During the past month I have been working on a youth model government exercise. The need for such an exercise hinges on three factors.

One, there is an onslaught of harmful chaos griping the world at this time.

Two, the life of instant gratification is doing a tremendous amount of dammage.

Three, our individual responsibility towards governance is being used against us as a weapon of war.

These factors are a very real threat to peace around the world. In all truth, the threats are not new yet they do take on a different form. We have the trojan horse situation taking place within the technology sector, we have planted news stories in our social media and we have the groups inciting apathy, idiocy, ignorance and/or hatred.

Having worked at building societies which endured years of war, these tactics are easily noticed. What will always remain is the ease in which youth become influenced. That is how we get youth joining Daesh in Syria. This is where the point three comes into play. Each of us must do our part to counter the chaos, give support to the fact the road of happiness is unending – not instant and that each of us relies on the other to ensure a peaceful society.

For years we have seen the efforts put into studies that say one thing and another study which points to the exact opposite side of an argument. If you want, you can get a study done that points to the impact of Jupiters orbit on the size of eggs. Should we be concerned about such a study? Well not to any great extent but it might be good for a laugh and the math would be of great interest. The point is not so much the content but the reality of such a study being done.

Part of living in a society is that we must understand where the information we receive is coming from and for what purpose. This is the trust we have seen eroded in the sources of information. What is so alarming is that we have been through this erosion of trust many times and yet we still fall for it. At present the RUSA is dealing with the Russian media influence. Here in Canada we had to deal with the same thing when the RUSA conducted similar operations during the late 1950's and early 60's. Now it comes back and we must be prepared for the same influence from more places.

We need to sort through the chaos of information, we need to work hard to gather the best intelligent information and we must know to stop spreading harmful information. These three points are the reasons for youth to be educated on proper research, proper debate, proper conflict skills and proper community building.

We have experience what happens in Syria, Libya, Yemen, RUSA and even in our own communitites when we lose focus of the diligent hard work needed to maintain a peaceful society. How often have we asked politicians to stop the partisan mud slinging? It takes a strong dose of calm resolve to pull back. It takes each of us to act in good faith. That is our responsibility to each other and ultimately, to our own selves. Our communities do not unravel unless we actually do the unravelling.

 

In the end we find out that easy living is rarely satisfying nor easy. We find out that our hard work is more rewarding for us. We also find out that being peaceful is not about just getting along. Peace is about valuing each other, supporting those who falter, knowing when we falter ourselves and having the courage to face up to it.  

A weaponized population good or bad?

Having the experience of living societies that have more guns than needed, designated as a war zones and basically lawless, there is some insight I have on having the population being armed. Also, having the experience of living in a society that is designated as one of the most peaceful societies, I have some realistic examples of what gun control can do and not do.

There is some truth in the fact that it takes a person to operate the gun for it to do harm – so does a hammer, a sword and even a nuclear weapon. This is why the saying that it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun can hold water. In this argument we are relying on the good nature of humans to win the day. If that is the argument then we are going to always ramp up the weapons or to use an old term “an arms race”. This theory was deemed quite ridiculous in the 1980's on an international scale yet, it is still very much alive on the individual level.

If you have had the pleasure (sarcasm) of living in society that is fully weaponized your first task will be to do whatever you can to stay alive (fight/kill others). Next you will have to do whatever you can to gain leverage to exit the area and/or end the shooting (ceasefire agreements). Next, if you are lucky enough to stop the shooting you will seek to disarm as many people as possible (demobilize and disarm programs). These are three of the most notable steps in ending any war since the very first two people started throwing rocks at each other.

Within that scenario you will understand that you are in a state of perpetual shooting and weaponizing until you are not. The moment you turn that corner towards a successful ceasefire, the weapons are dropped/collected.

Then we have the argument that only bad guys will have guns if we do not allow good guys to have guns. There is some truth to that. Another truth is that the bad guys can never be relied upon to listen to the rules anyway. If everyone has a handgun, the bad guy will just throw grenades and car bombs. In effect we will just perpetuate an arms race in our own communities. Case in point is Daesh (ISIS). Sadly that will always be a reality because some people are just idiotic, selfish assholes.

Do we live in fear of such people? Some do live in fear and that is how we get an overly weaponized society. Should we live in fear of the idiotic, selfish asshole, NO. However, we live in a world that is far from perfect and this argument about gun control will walk the lines of moral rights and legal rights.

 

In such arguments we must understand that what is legal is not always peaceful. Next we have to understand that just because there are laws, it does not stop anyone from doing anything.

What does work is the collective community working together with compassion and resolve to maintain peace. We are left with the cliché that it takes a community to raise a child. The community does not wait for the shooting before something is done. Before anyone says the obvious – no this is not an easy solution. In fact it is much more difficult that having everyone own a gun – and that is the primary problem we face. Peace is too difficult. We live in a time where the quick and easy life is wanted more than the peaceful life. The irony is that too much of the quick and easy has brought many societies to destruction throughout history. It is easier to buy a gun than to care for your neighbour.

Guns are a reality. With wise ownership and good judgement, there are no problems. Unfortunately we live in a world where common sense tends to lean more towards idiocy than wisdom. There is no issue with a person who has a solid grasp of peaceful existence owning a gun. Now, if you want to give everyone a gun go live in Syria and see what life is like.

When irony meets hypocrisy

Held within the prophecy of living in interesting times is the reality that such times are not easy, are filled with drama and of course excitement. At this moment we are living in very interesting times. As we live through these moments we seek answers, solutions, reasons, causes and meaning. During such a moment a question came to mind concerning the law of physics that states – for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The question is - what is the equal reaction of peace to the destruction of war?

What is the peace equivalent of a missle strike, a mass shooting or a car bombing? How do we let off a peace bomb? What act of peace rivals what is taking place in Syria? These are the thoughts that must be explored in order to bring the world into peace. From these thoughts there must be action. Also, we must take into consideration that hatred is fueled by love. This is the ironic reality in which we struggle to understand hyprocritical action. When irony meets hypocrisy, the collision results in the birth of insanity, violence, frustration, stupidity and we experience the torment of hell. Sadly such a reality is often self inflicted and self perpetuated.

We need to know our own minds first – totally to be at complete peace. If the equation of equal reactions stands up to truth then where are the opposites of Daesh? Where are the peace bombs going off to rival the car bombs, missle strikes, mass shootings, and where are the peace camps that rival refugee camps? In some realm of thought a refugee camp is a peace camp – perhaps?

At this point, the mental capacity to carry on such a thought exercise has produced a deep sorrow for those who are suffering the brutality of war. Hopefully those who battle an internal war such as an illness or an external war, will find peace.