Imagine warfare as dolby surround. In your living room. Warefare put into sound. It would kill you. The shear noise and terror of it would drive you insane before you’d ever step outside to take a first-hand look at any grand fight. Grand fights? Is there any such thing? I dare so: No. You’re in for a tinnitus, for sure. A lasting one. One that might render you deaf in the end. Deafening sounds of war from every angle. Terrible thought.Is that going to be our plight?
Our future does seem blighted
What is going to happen in Europe, in the Ukraine and the surrounding Baltic states? Why this rush to show such a strong NATO presence? Why make such an aggressive “defensive” statement? Could it be that the deterrence efforts are increasingly imbalanced? Is this a show-off only, or is this setting the scene for more anxiety to feed the masses with; and for more fights?
Freedom is a very fuzzy word. While Ukrainians are fighting for freedom to join the EU or freedom to remain under the “protectorate” of Russia, mighty nations are fighting for influence and power in this region of the world. In the end, one might lose one’s life for another person’s freedom fight. Terrible plight. It happens all the time. We should know it. Diverging interests.
Fake “We love you”-World We’re being bombarded by sickening thoughts, imbalanced opinions and twisted reports. How to know truth from lie and news from fake news? How to decipher between integrity and lack of it? The bad news is that we can’t possibly investigate it all. We have to trust good journalists who are bold to speak truth, research real facts and put their lives at risk for it. Journalists are no news robots. They report through their own set of lenses. Their respective world views and political convictions influence how they research, write and act. Generally, evil politicians don’t share their evil thoughts and strategies with the general public. They pay lip service to loving everyone everywhere and wanting to help everyone everywhere. They are “smooth operators” when it comes to that.
Everyone wants to be portrayed as being the “good guys” on the scene. Maybe, that’s the fakiest of all news. We might have to learn the hard truth that there are no good guys in “war plots”. War is the devil’s game that seeks to destroy, shed blood and drive people insane.
How to filter the good from the bad? The truth is that we can’t do it. Now that we’ve all eaten the fruit of the tree of “Knowledge of Good and Evil”, we realise that we are good at knowing what is good and what is evil but not good at knowing who is good or evil. What’s the use of knowing what is good and what is bad if it is so relative? Obama is relatively good, say some. Trump is relatively bad, so others. Or the other way around.
Here in Germany, where the author of this article lives, Angelika Merkel is increasingly being perceived both as Ying and Yang forces merged into one person. Far too many people reason along these lines nowadays, giving her thumbs up today and thumbs down tomorrow. She’s perceived to be both terribly good and terribly bad. Take your pick or become a walking paradigm shift that doesn’t know what the shift is about because there might in fact be none. Confusion births a schizophrenic society. This is what we’re getting here in Germany. One that votes for all parties at random, depending how the voters accentuate and evaluate the level of good or bad in each of the available political parties, or even only in their main spokesmen or spokeswomen. The German parliamentary elections are going to be a roller coaster ride. And a very bumpy one, too.
Keeping Your Wits about You You might need psychotherapy though because you can’t possibly keep your wits about you if you are torn between these extremes of good and bad all the time. Don’t forget, warriors reason that bad deeds ligitimate the greater good. That’s the war mindset, isn’t it? The greater good? We can see what happened to Syria. This reasoning is awfully flawed; and we do know it. If C.S. Lewis were alive today, he’d write a new sequel to Screwtape’s Letters showing how little devils instill “do a little evil for the greater good” thoughts and “do a little wrong for your own country’s ‘good’ interests” into mighty men and women. Little lies, little intrigues, little crimes … They make up a toxic substance that serve as foundation to build wars upon.
As Christians, the only response can be, to carefully watch what’s happening and to ask God for wisdom in this time of confucsion. Thankfully, we can pray and ask Christ to help us stay calm. For in Christ we rest in the peace that is not of this world.
Author: Saina Veigel | Independant Author | Greater Metropolitan Hamburg
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