We will perhaps not annihilate the human race in large-scale wars like WWI or WWII. But we are capable of still achieving the same result by slow poisoning of small scale wars like terrorism, gun toting civilians, angry mob, unofficial exploitation and starvation, ruining the eco system slowly but surely. If we truly want to be civilized, if we truly want peace, to love and be loved; tit-for-tat will not work; retaliation will not work. It may be a stopgap measure, but not a permanent solution. You can bomb Iraq or Pakistan, but will it stop terrorism? These are all relative terms. During the British Raj, train derailment was a patriotic thing although radical in nature. But it did kill innocent people. Same game, only different term. What some Israeli leaders did prior to the creation of Israel was the same. These all happen because of a root cause. Derailing train could not have toppled the British Empire. It was Gandhian approach with love, peace and justice that sent back the Brits home.
What has happened – howsoever terrible it might be – is water under the bridge, spilled milk and nothing can be done about it. Those lives cannot be brought back. A reaction, retaliation may be politically justified, but not morally and not for a long-term solution. The children in many countries - who saw their parents blown off - will never forget the scene and may be cynical about the world and may take to terrorism themselves someday. So, we must not perpetuate the problem by retaliation.
Every living being wants to live. What the world lacks is a true visionary leader - one who will try to understand the root cause for these upheavals; why is one willing to blow himself/herself up, why did Irish Republican Army, Shiv Sena, Skin Head, ULFA, SULFA, NDFB, AAMSU, etc. happen, why are people willing to risk their lives to come to America, why do horrible things happen in Croatia, Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, and so on, why did the Indians get kicked out of Uganda? Why does every country spend billions developing defense arsenals (whose only purpose is to kill) and not on eradicating hunger, poverty, illiteracy?
What we need is a great social doctor who would diagnose the disease first and then apply the right medication. Typhoid medication doesn’t work for malaria. What the world has today is a large number of cancerous cells (caused by perhaps societies own habits), hopefully in its early stage. It is serious. It is time to pause and do a root cause analysis instead of knee jerk reaction. Or is it just social entropy and will it be always on the rise?
