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The Lamentations of a Mortified Liberal
by Shi Y, Arizona, USA, Age 16

War is an interesting thing. It is something that we, the citizens of the America, think we can debate, analyze, and understand without ever seeing its real nature, without ever being affected personally, without ever knowing the truth of battle.It is something that incites some, something that people can react to deeply and passionately, and something that can ignite a so-called purpose in the hearts and minds of others. And yet, all these people can really do is debate and discuss, and then go to their respective homes and gather more fodder for their arguments from the kindly and removed stream of information fed to us by the media.

To today’s jaded society, a war is something that can be fought, won or lost, and forgotten in a moment. It is something that can be ignored, or looked over, or switched off. And then we proceed with our lives, and an ignorant spectator would not know they were in a country at war if they were not told such. It is pathetic, and mostly, it is sad. It is sad that there is such hatred and stupidity in the world. It is sad that we, as a people, are so advanced and yet so primitive. And it is sad that history teaches us nothing. Have we not all heard the saying that we record history so as to avoid repeating our past mistakes? What can be more of a mistake than war? What can be worse, economically, socially, and physically, than war? What else is it so important to avoid? What else can it be?

But of course, all I can do is what we all do: debate, analyze, and pretend to understand something so profoundly impossible to fully grasp from thousands of miles away. And all we can do is speak feely, and be glad of it while we can—though it makes no difference—because with all the hatred for and fear of this country, the end result will be one that we deal out almost indiscriminately: a great and devastating war.