By Dr. J. Das
It appears as if we are living in a world of violence. This is borne out by listening to the daily news and reading the newspapers. Violence is rampant in many parts of the world, either between governments, or between political factions within a country. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the civil war in Syria, among others, have taken a heavy toll in lives, and displacements of people into refugee camps, with their attendant suffering. Sometimes, it is single interest groups against governments. Often violence is between individuals and gangs. All people accept the fact that violence is evil and should be avoided. Violence is condemned by all the world religions, except when a religion, in its zeal to spread itself, accepts violence as ordained by God. Violence, actually, must first exist within man’s mind before it can be manifested as violence against others.
The cost of military operations is enormous. The Stockholm International Research Institute found that the world spent $1.75 trillion on the military in 2012. This was recently reported on the internet. The US spent $669 billion; China spent $158 billion, India spent $48 billion. Other countries spent lesser amounts. The world population is just over seven billions. Calculation reveals that the world expenditure divided by seven billion people results in approximately $242.00 for every person on earth. That is a lot of money to spend on military operations. And why? Because people do not know how to live in peace and harmony. And if they know how, they distrust others and choose not to follow the principles that lead to peace. Sometimes the motivation is one upmanship so that a country wishes to be superior in military might, while others have the same motive. Taken to its logical end, this promotes mutual destruction. But most countries do not wish this, so there are efforts at mutual reduction of military weapons, international negotiations to try to avoid conflicts, a multitude of interfaith dialogues to develop mutual understanding and acceptance, and participation in an uncountable number of peace prayers throughout the world. It would truly be a great achievement if all of these efforts help to reduce hostility, and thus monetary expenditure. Funds can then be utilized for the benefit of humanity in all areas of need such as health, nutrition, sanitation and clean water supply.
Somehow, it appears that people have lost, or is rapidly losing love, compassion, understanding, forbearance, tolerance, etc. Perhaps the increasing world population, difficult economic circumstances and greater competitiveness, combined with the need for personal satisfactions can be seen as related factors for violence. People appear to be getting more self-centered disregarding the ideals of brotherhood and “loving thy neighbour as thyself”. Negotiations and compromises are becoming more difficult, and instant satisfaction of personal desires appears to be the motivating force in many cases of violence. Perhaps religion and God are less meaningful to people caught up in material pursuits, so the spiritual values are relegated to the back burners of peoples’ minds. I wonder what God would think of “his children and their childish games!”
Dr. J. Das is a Surrey-based writer.
