Men stop war to make gods
sometimes. Peace gods who would make
Earth a haven. A place for men to
think love and play. No war
to cloud their minds and hearts. Stop,
somehow, men from being men.
Gods make war to stop men
from becoming gods.
Without the beat of drums to stop
our ears, what heaven we could make
of Earth! The anchor that is war
left behind? Somehow free to
stop war? Gods make men to
be somewhat like them. So men
express their godliness in war.
To take life this is what gods
do. Not the womanly urge to make
life. Nor the simple sense to stop.
War-men make gods. To stop
those gods from raging,we have to
find the heart and head to make
new gods, who don't take men
in human sacrifice. New gods,
who find disgust in war.
Gods stop, to make men war
for their amusement. We can stop
their fun. We can make new gods
in human guise. No need to
call to heaven. Just take plain men
and show them the heaven they could make!
To stop God's wars! Men make
their own destiny. We don't need war
to prove to anyone that we are men.
But even that is not enough. To stop
war, we have to become more. To
stop war, we have to become gods.
To stop war, make men gods.
Joe Haldeman, from the book Forever Free, sequel to The Forever War.
I found this and I must admit, I keep going back. The title Why? is mine for this post, there is none in the book. It is also set out as it appears in the book.
Maybe it's saying the ultimate blasphemy is the needless taking of human life. I'm not religeous, but how many have suffered and died in the name of religion, yet it does have it's positive side, unfortunately the negative seems to far outweigh the positive.
I'll be back to add more, there is more to be said about this piece yet.
