Quest For the Truth - Contrast Essay: War Versus Peace

This is the final essay I wrote for my English Composition I class. I got a perfect score on it. I thought I might share it with you all. Enjoy the read

Since the beginning of mankind, there has been conflict and unrest among us. The undeniable differences that separate men from other men escalate and devolve into violent outbursts. Fighting, rioting, murders, assassinations, and war are all by-products of man’s inability to relate and empathize with different cultures, ideas, and beliefs. It is our human stubbornness and stupidity giving way to violence and genocidal extermination as opposed to looking for compassion and understanding within each other. We use war to strive for peace under the false assumption that killing those who disagree will give us peace. It is a logical fallacy to believe that those who suffer the murdering of their loved ones will simply lay down their arms and accept a shaky peace. However, it is abundantly clear that when given the choice between peace and war, peace is the more desirable option among the two choices. This is because peace is more prosperous for all than war, which leads to the bloodshed of many.
Peace is the end result of war, and its desired outcome. It’s also the state that occurs before wars begin. This is a preferred state of living for all people, because peace can allow for happiness and tranquility to blossom and flourish. Peace is a state where people are at their happiest and their most productive. More energy tends to be focused on the advancement of humanity through various aspects of human culture. The money that would be invested into war would instead be invested into that country’s economy. There is also a considerably less death and destruction to the infrastructure and cities within a country without the destructive elements of war. It would be intellectually dishonest to say that there would be no violence within a peaceful country’s borders; however, it would be acceptable to assume that the violence within a peaceful country’s border would pale in comparison to one whose borders are engulfed in the flames of war. Diplomacy could be the reason behind the increase of non-violence within a peaceful nation. Problems are solved by discussion and compromise rather than military might, and everyone may not be in agreement with each other at the end of the discussion, but everyone lives on.
War is the opposite of peace, and arises from conflicts from different or even the same country. War is bred by violence, and leads to more violence. Within that initial violence it creates survivors, who within their survival can become vengeful and create more violence. The energy that would be used to create and build is now used to kill and destroy anything perceived as an enemy. Death and destruction are abundant and surround the streets that children played or people ventured down during their everyday lives. The playgrounds have now become the killing fields; corpses lay where kids once ran and played. Mortar shells destroy school buildings and national libraries, destroying the histories and educations of the population. While force has been touted as the ultimate trump card since the creation of the bronze spear, violence seems to create more problems than it solves. For centuries, we have used war as the solutions to conflicts and yet we still have more conflicts that we attempt to solve through war.
Is war inevitable or can we stop the eternal suffering caused by the death, destruction, and annihilation of the seemingly unstoppable conflicts caused by our differences? It seems that despite our advancements in technology, medicine, and society, we cannot escape the violence and terror that inspires war. We do not strive to lay down arms and eliminate nuclear armaments; we instead find ways to build deadlier guns, rockets, and bombs. The terrorist attack of September 11th, 2001 is a prime example of how far people are willing to go to commit atrocities against one another. While one of the greatest strengths of humanity is to learn from its mistakes, war is a mistake we continually make over and over again.
As long as war continues, there can be no world peace. Peace is a fragile state that needs consistent stability to flourish and prosper. The world cannot be at peace when people are fighting each other. The chaos created by war does nothing to help bring stability to any country. Each time there is hope that we will not have to resort to wars again, because peace is a desirable state. There have been several shining examples of peaceful people making a difference, and non-violent movements creating social changes on both a community and a nationwide scale. There are more ways to change the world than putting people down the cross-hairs of a gun; however, there are people unwilling to see it in terms of pacifism. The new generation of leaders must find a way to provide peace to the constituents of their communities, and promote peace and tranquility above all else.
The youth of our current generation has finally been exposed to war. They have seen the televised horrors of terrorism, and experienced the horrific images of battle. While we have always justified the use of force to end conflicts, perhaps the youth have finally realized that it is time to change our ways. We possess the power to change the fate of the world for the better through peace. It is through our compassion and understanding for our fellow man that we can bring ourselves to the next stage in human and social evolution. Without our compassion and empathy for one another, we are nothing more than animals lashing out at the throat of our own against our own betterment. There is a better way to solve our problems than with a gun; it is to use our hearts and our minds.