How can we justify war?

OPINION:

It is terrible that the human race can even imagine war. The thought of mass killing and the mutilation of men, women and children and the destruction of the work and creativity of good people should be inconceivable. How can Vladimir Putin justify the destruction and killing of thousands of innocent people for the glory of Russia? What justifies all that pain and sorrow? Money? Religion? Religious leaders who profess to believe in a good God commit their fellow humans to suffering to satisfy their belief that their God sanctions war. What fools we are.

You would think that in 2022, with all we have achieved, we would look back at history realize there is nothing good about war. We read stories of battles where thousands of men were killed and our mind glosses over the words, not feeling the stupidity and suffering. We react as though we are looking at a chess board. But human beings are not chess pieces and the words are not just words; they represent people who lived and loved and had families that will never see them again. How many horrible examples do we need before we learn that deliberation with good intentions is the only way to settle differences among nations?

Any world leader who orders his military to kill people for any reason should be executed by a world court. But that will not happen. Wars will continue.

JOHN PROCIDA

Flushing, New York