Lori Duff Writes

War has got to be the stupidest way imaginable to resolve disputes. 

I mean, think about it.  If you had two six-year-olds on a school playground arguing about whose turn it was on the swings, and the argument got heated and one of them threw a punch and they ended up on the ground, what would happen next?  Would the adults simply call out the fight like sportscasters and then agree that to the victor went the spoils?  No.  Absolutely not.  Those kids would be pulled aside, told that violence was not the answer, they’d be put in time out or suspended from school, maybe sent to the counselor’s office.  There’d be a sign-up sheet the next day for the swings and the whole thing would become a teachable moment.

Because school is supposed to teach you how to deal with the real world, right?  And part of the real world is conflict resolution. 

But in the real world, let’s say a kid decides that another kid has had enough time ruling Kyiv and it’s his turn.  He throws a punch, only instead of knocking out a baby tooth he knocks out an entire neighborhood with thermobaric weapons, and the victim, not willing to take this lying down, responds with a bunch of stinger missiles.

And since when did might make right anyway?  Have we agreed as a society that having bigger bombs gives you the moral high ground?  The guy born with bigger muscles is not always the guy born with bigger virtues.  The result is a whole lot of funerals, a whole lot of mourning children and mothers, and a whole lot of destruction, all for what boils down to a trumped-up version of a turn on the swings. The consequences are a bit more than that black eye which we were unwilling to tolerate just a few years before. 

But, you say, look at history.  The good guys always come out victorious.  I mean, thank goodness we out-bombed Hitler, for example.

And yeah, as a purebred Jew I’m glad we don’t live in a world-wide Third Reich.  But does that example prove the rule?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  The winners not only get the spoils, but they also get to write the history books.

I often see pictures of smiling soldiers on the news who have met their demise, and the rhetoric is always the same.  These brave men and women gave their lives fighting for our freedom.  They put themselves in danger so I can be free to write these words and speak my mind.  But did they?  Or did they give up their lives for some power struggle that occurred when one stubborn bully couldn’t imagine a universe in which another stubborn bully might be perceived as being one rung on the ladder above him?

I’m not so naïve as to think that there’s a universe in which we could have sat down with Hitler and found common ground.  Sometimes a smoking crater is the only way to resolve a problem.

But not always.  Not usually.  And I’m pretty sure I don’t want my son to die just in case.

If you enjoyed this and want to read more like it, visit Lori on Twitter or on Facebook or read her award winning books.  You can order her novella, “Broken Things”, by clicking here.  The audiobook can be found on Audible or iTunes.  Look for her novel “Devil’s Defense” coming in November 2024 from She Writes Press.

Lori Duff

Lori B. Duff is an award-winning author who practices law on the side.  Her latest book, “If You Did What I Asked in the First Place” was awarded the Gold Medal for humor in the Foreword INDIES awards in 2019. You can follow her on Twitter at @LoriBDuff and on Facebook. For more blogs written by Lori, click here. For more information about Lori in general, click here. If you want Lori to do your writing for you, click here. If you want Lori to help you market your book, click here.