War on Everything

We declare war, endless wars on drugs, poverty, corruption, crime, cancer, rust and even toilet bowl rings. Our American English language is peppered with the language of war.

• ideas shot down
• attack a problem
• more ammunition for the argument
• magic bullets
• combat illness
• campaigns and crusades for issues
• bombed the test
• arm yourself against ignorance insurance fraud, termites ...

Think of your own war-like terms. 

What would happen if we would call a truce from all this warring? If we declared peace on everything? If we used the same thinking and planning and quest for reconciling conflicting realities that we do when addressing a shooting war? What would personal transformation look like in the “peace on drugs?”  What would structural transformation look like in a “peace on cancer?” 

This shift from war defining everything to the standard of peace will take creative thinking. It may produce some ridiculous sounding ideas. But I am reminded of the old adage about nonviolence used for social change…at first it look irrational but doesn’t take long before, compared to the consequences of war, looks very rational indeed.