The Price of Peace
Lessons of peace as taught by movies of war
Tonight, I watched the 2019 movie Midway. The tales of heroism were exciting, the depiction of sacrifice was devastating, and surprisingly, Woody Harrelson played a pretty convincing Admiral Nimitz.
While I’m not a veteran, I have unending respect for anyone that has worn the uniform in service to their country. However, that respect does not start and end with only American service members; Heroism and sacrifice are not solely American ideals.
I enjoy watching war movies, especially those that bring humanity into the script. With Midway, the Japanese naval leadership’s joy, fear, regret, and even humility was appreciated. Especially in 2025 America, where the administration is sowing seeds of war with the demonization of the “evil others”, there is a real risk (daresay “intent”) to reduce the humanity of “others” to condition the nation that somehow, those lives have less value.
This attitude is a powderkeg looking for a spark.
The despicable attempt to extort Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a stark reminder in how far America has strayed from being a strong ally and leader in the march for world peace. As a nation, we used to support our allies and stand up to bullies, but apparently now our leaders denigrate, belittle, and extort allies and bend over for bullies.
If America’s leadership cannot be trusted to support our foreign allies, what assurances do we have they’ll do anything to support the American people? This question is rhetorical, of course, as we’ve seen what the administration thinks of the non-billionaire class: 2,300 career public servants have already been terminated, with likely more to follow. Tariffs and trade wars are raising the prices of everything, decimating the finances of the working class.
We are, however, only at the beginning of the planned decimation. By terminating these programs there will be ripple effects in other industries for decades, each one an added destabilizing force on a nation that is already on the brink of collapse. Today it’s government employees. Tomorrow, it’ll be the people that rely on those programs, either directly or indirectly. After that, it’ll be the people that rely on those people. That’s the thing about throwing a stone into a pond, at some point, all of the water gets disturbed.
America is a country where you can be murdered by going to school. Or church. Or the coffee shop. Or anywhere, if you’re not a pasty white male.
If you happen only to be wounded in one of the many mass shootings and many more private shootings, America is a country where most cannot afford medical care to be healed. On the heels of a global pandemic that killed millions of people, America is a country where a lifelong heroin addict and anti-vaccine conspiracist is in charge of the national policies for public health. Make no mistake, this person knows nothing about health or protecting people; he was selected not on talent but on fealty.
If you’re a woman, you no longer have the right to protect your own body or make medical decisions that may save your life, and if the Republicans follow through with their promises, soon it’ll be difficult if not impossible for women to vote.
Veterans, many of whom put their lives on the line (and all who put their lives on hold) commonly return to a nation led by people who have no respect for the sacrifice. No veteran or veteran’s family should ever be homeless or without quality medical care. But when the country is being led by a draft dodging delusional dotard surrounded by a bunch of sycophants that cannot be bothered to learn from the mistakes of history, I guess bad shit is all that’s left over for EVERYONE not having enough digits in their bank balance.
America is the country that funded the Taliban, and then abruptly cut them off when it was politically advantageous. From this wreckage, Al Queda sprung up and killed thousands of Americans on 9/11, and countless more in the war theaters of Iraq and Afghanistan. (Source: Hillary Clinton’s remarks on Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hillary-clinton-created-al-qaeda/)
Does this sound like a strong nation to you? It was already on the precipice before our supposed leaders started twisting the knife with our allies while ignoring the needs of the people, many of whom voted for them. At what point will we have tipped too far?
In the meeting with the Ukrainian President, the American president said that the Ukrainian leader was “gambling with World War 3” by not agreeing to his extortion plan of Ukraine giving America rights to its precious minerals as a contingency for American support of its sovereignty. But do not be fooled; American leadership cannot be trusted. Even if the Ukrainian leader had agreed, the American would have sold him out to Russia. It now falls on the EU - formerly our allies - to protect the Ukrainian people by standing against America. Let that sink in; they’re STANDING AGAINST AMERICA AND IT’S THE RIGHT DECISION.
Have we had enough “winning” yet?
A Fox news host suggested that perhaps the American president should get a peace prize for his extortion of the Ukrainian President. That’s the thing about Fox hosts; intelligence is woefully optional. No, you simple minded stain on humanity: The American president wants to usher in WW3 so he can declare martial law, kill his perceived enemies, and suspend future elections. All he wants is to stay in power until he dies, so he will never enter the “find out” phase of his endless “fuck around” program.
THIS IS THE POLAR OPPOSITE OF PEACE.
What if we were to commit to seeing people as people, and not the “us” vs. “them” that’s so prominently featured by the Republican elect? What if, like these war movies, we looked for the humanity in these perceived enemies to find they have families, hopes, dreams, and plans for a future? What if, instead of dreaming up creative ways to hate other people, we focus instead on understanding them so we can creatively work together for everyone’s benefit?
War trades dead humans for money for a select few. Peace converts understanding into cooperation for the benefit of everyone. What if that one person killed on the battlefield had lived and created a cure for cancer? What would happen if the only people who died in war were those that signed the war declarations and they kept our children and grandchildren out of their petty squabbles?
Don’t bother coming at me with some story about how war is about saving democracy. War has always been only about protecting someone’s real estate when someone else wants it bad enough to kill for it. Too many young people have been sacrificed for too few oil-stained patches of dirt.
Older Americans know of the immense losses of WW1, WW2, Midway, Iwo Jima, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. It’s important that this information gets passed to the next generations so that the terrible atrocities of the past are never repeated.
We’ve tried war and all we got was death. Can we please give peace a chance?
Hmmm... "Give Peace A Chance." Rings a bell. Hippie. :) Great article. We can give peace a chance, even though it always turns out to be a battle of its own against greed.
There will be another Great Generation. It is not mine. It won't be my children's or even their children's. I hope my grandchildren's grandchildren will be a part of it -- and that it will be a worldwide rainbow coalition.
My grandfather fought in WWI; my uncle was a medic at Guadalcanal and my father guarded German POW’s during WWII. I watched Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan from the safety of my living room, but still horrifying. I’m game for no more war in my lifetime.