WAR AND PEACE
War is defined as a state of armed conflict between different
countries or different groups within a country. Peace is the antonym of war. It
refers to a period in which there is no war or a war has ended.
War is not okay because of its negative consequences. It
kills or injures or cripples lots of soldiers and common people including
innocent women and children. Many birds and beasts, too, lose their lives.
Environment becomes polluted and poisonous. Economy is badly affected. Land
loses fertility. Famine becomes a fatal threat. Enmity between warring countries
rises, not dips.
The Indian poet Abdul Hyee, popularly known by his pen name
Sahir Ludhianvi (1921-1980) wrote a very popular poem on war wherein he said: war
does not solve any problem; in fact it is itself a problem. He prays for its
deferment as long as possible.
According to the Italian diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli
(1469-1527): He who makes war his profession cannot be otherwise than vicious.
---War makes thieves, and peace brings them to the gallows.
The English poet Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) observes: The
practices of war are so hateful to God, that were not his mercies infinite, it
were in vain for those of that profession to hope for any portion of them.
In the eyes of Former Emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) : War is the
business of barbarians.
A German Proverb says: A great war leaves the country with
three armies ---an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of
thieves.
Scottish poet and playwright James Thomson (1700-48) thinks
that peace is the happy, natural state of man; war, his corruption, his
disgrace.
Finally, this
statement of the Italian poet Francis Petrarch (1304-1374): Five great enemies
to peace inhabit with us: namely, avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride. If
those enemies were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.
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G.R.Kanwal
15 January 2025
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