So, in my lifetime, we have had wars against a myriad of Enemies — below is a very partial list:
The Evil Viet Cong (I was listed as A1 on my Draft Card)
There was something in Yugoslavia, but I wasn’t paying attention
The Evil Dictator in Iraq, a couple of times
The Evil Dictator in Libya
Several Evil Dictators in Central and South America
The Evil Taliban in Afghanistan
We’re always at war with the Evil Russians (and maybe the Evil Chinese);
And, more recently wars against:
a molecule (CO2, [plant food]); and
even a virus (CoVid-1984)
Wars are GREAT (We used to have Crusades!)
Wars are good for the economy (does anyone actually believe that? I’ve figured out a long time ago that what is good for the “economy” is generally not good for me, but is good for a very few select people — and I’m not going to fight for them in their wars); Major General Smedley Butler might have said this best1.
and they unite the people !
We always have to be at war …
In George Orwell’s words from 1984, “We’ve always been at war with Eastasia”.
And the majority of people will get on-board for the next War, against whomever or whatever, as long as it’s announced in the Media.
Now, I hope, at this point, you don’t think I’m some sort of crazy anti-social person who is against War (I am NOT Amish!). I am like So Totally Really Actually at War every day. I have several Wars that I’m involved with, and they take place right here on my land, where I’m on the front lines, e.g., my Wars against
ticks and chiggers;
my Nobel War against the Evil Crimson Autumn Olive; and more recently,
my defensive war against my FrienEnemies, the deer (I planted 7 new fruit trees in my orchard last year, and the deer eat off all branches and totally girdled 6 of them);2
and of course my war of Science vs. Narrative; shit, I might as well go to battle with Entropy, or paraphrasing that Hoosier, Kurt Vonnegut, I’d probably be more successful writing against Wars or Glaciers than Narratives;
I’m even battling lawyers who are literally trying to seize some of my territory;
And don’t even get me started about the myriad of battles I fought in my War against the Evil Racoons, which I won3, who were attacking my humming bird feeders.
Choose your battles and wars wisely.
Don’t let someone else choose them for you.
Oh, and Happy Equinox! It happened here last night at 11:06 pm. Light has now overtaken Darkness (We will Celebrate this with Easter, the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Equinox). Well, people in the Southern Hemisphere might argue with you about that, but hopefully we will not have to go to war over it!
If you were, subjectively speaking, to Subscribe, you would only be encouraging me …
General Major Smedley Butler
Some have proposed that I shoot them, eat them, and them make clothing from their skins. I have opted to build 6 ft tall chicken-wire enclosures around each tree.
Feeders hung off a line of wire, and on the wire, in front of and behind of each feeder, a short piece of PVC tubing. It was a very long war, with many battles, but I eventually won!
A pleasant read and wise advice, thank you!