As you've probably heard by now, the United States bombed Syria on Friday night as a response to the unneccesary and brutal attacks that President Assad has made on his own people. The U.S. has said they have proof of the attack, while Assad has denied it.
With the possibility of war breaking out due to a perceived escalation by the U.S in the eyes of Russia (they practically run Syria as they have kept Assad in power through military funding, troops and technology), it makes me think of a famous quote by philosopher George Santayana that states:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
This quote brought three photos to mind that I took in the recent past. The first is of the Vietnam memorial and momentos left in remembrance of a fallen soldier:
The second shot is of the American Flag at Arlington Cemetery, always flying at half mast, in honor of fallen soldiers:
The final shot is of the World War II Memorial at night, honoring the soldiers who fought and died in what was the largest scale war in history:
The pattern is there. Evil arises, war breaks out...thousands - millions die. It saddens me that, as a species, we continue to make the same mistakes that our predecessors made. It is also a travesty that, as Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated, "...the fact that there are those who are seeking to equate dissent with disloyalty" is still a reality today. In order to instill change, we must be the change. Be the change so that we don't see young men and women leave their parents, children, siblings and friends without the ability to speak to, hug and love that person again. It is on us all to speak up and take the proper course to stop anything like this from occurring.
This is not a post against soldiers, a post bashing the removal of diabolical dictators, or saying we were wrong necessarily for shooting missiles at a country, no matter how awful that country's actions were.
When we don't learn from history, we repeat history. And that appears to be the neverending cycle we find ourselves in.
Maybe one day we will figure out how to make peace. I hope so.
