Endless War by Sanjay Patel

My friend took his daughter to the Brewer’s baseball game tonight. The game started at 7pm and now at 11:15 it is still going, the bottom of the 13th inning. I doubt if they are still there with school tomorrow but the game goes on and on.

Since the 80’s we seem to have a state of endless wars going on and on. Some the USA is directly involved in, like Iraq and Afghanistan and others, like in Pakistan and Yemen we are indirectly involved in. As wars became endless we need more men and women to fight the wars. We developed more indirect ways of killing, like Killer Drones, but we still need men and women to operate the technology.

When I joined in the Milwaukee 14 in 1968 in destroying 1A Selective service files I was motivated by the selective draft putting men in the position to “kill or be killed.” Now we have a so called “voluntary military’ but money, education and honor are used to motivate young men and women to put themselves in a position to “kill or be killed.” They call it a ‘voluntary’ system but brain studies have shown that young people till about the age of 25 have an undeveloped brain. The part of the brain that is now developed plays a critical role in decision making, problem solving and understanding future consequences of today’s actions. (See Neuroscience of Nonviolence slide show for more information.)

The baseball game is still going on but will end soon. When will the endless wars end? I think they will end when men and women, despite all the incentives, just say No. Without soldiers and money there will be no more endless wars.

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