Born For Peace

Born for Peace

Some say human nature

makes us greedy for power

and prone to squabble and fight.

These men call themselves

'realists' and their rhetoric

rules the policies

of most nations

around the world.

Others say that people

are born friendly

and know only love

until they are taught to hate.

These men are said

to be dreamers and idealists.

I'm sure you know the names

of a few who are famous.

The truth, the truth

my friends, is plain to see

if you stop to examine the world

and take some time to think.

Look around, look around

my friends,

add up the number

of military personnel

on the planet and you'll find

there is only one soldier

for every one thousand

civilians around the globe.

If we weren't born with the instinct

to be friendly to one another

we couldn't be social creatures.

If we weren't naturally cooperative

with one another, we couldn't

acquiesce to form governments,

create companies,

or work together on big projects.

And don't forget,

for most of human history,

societies didn't even have police.

Look around my friend

do you shoot your way

to work every day?

And then shoot your way

home at night?

The vast majority

of people on Mother Earth

are busy all their lives with work,

friends and family

And out of all the thousands of years

people have been on the planet

only a small fraction

of that time has been spent

fighting wars.

Now, it's true we each

act out of self-interest,

but anyone who has

made it through a bit of life

understands that often what is best

for his own interest

is other peoples best interest

The truth my friends

is that men are born for peace

and most societies spend

most of their time at peace.

To say that men are naturally

born to fight one another

is a mistaken assumption

that flies in the face of the facts.

It is a sad irony

that in the modern world

the men who always

call us to arms

are never the ones who fight.

Dewey Dirks