War is hell. You can’t photograph a flying bullet, but you can capture genuine fear.
When I read this, an image of a cat toying with a mouse comes to mind. Especially when there is a power imbalance, it is easy to instill genuine fear between the parties.
Who is it who said that it takes two to make war but only one to make peace? Does it take two to make war? What if you’re the cat and the mouse can’t escape? I’ve seen a video where a cat is stalking a mouse and the mouse turns and fights back. Is that a war?
War is hell, regardless of how many wage it. How many wage it will determine the scope of the hellishness.
Maybe one day we will be able to pinpoint the war gene in our double helices and declare war on war.
Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it.
How can a trapped mouse prevent war with a cat? Run in circles and hope the cat gets tired?
Maybe it can send out a psychic plea to mice and other cat-fearers to come and help create an exit?
If we had a shred of common sense along with a fair measure of compassion, we might declare and enforce a mission statement of no more war for humans. Where other species act upon each other in roles of predation, humans have created subcategories of themselves to serve in those roles. When a slum landlord preys upon families who live from paycheck to paycheck because their rent is so high, but because the slum property is unsafe due to environmental details (e.g. faulty furnace, leaking pipes, lead paint, inadequate insulation, insect infestations), they risk some harm but have nowhere else to go, it’s a war.
Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.
Reading this one, I immediately thought of a Looney Toons cartoon where one pulls a gun, the other pulls a bigger gun, and it keeps going back and forth with the bigger and bigger weapons. I forgot how it ended. War is unacceptable, where generals use soldiers, civilians, and geography as a strategy game.
Reena Saxena is the host of Reena’s Exploration Challenge. Reena says:
So, here we are with three quotes to drive your thoughts.
-War is hell. You can’t photograph a flying bullet, but you can capture genuine fear.
-Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it.
-Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.
Use any one, or use all, or write something related to the theme. Go wherever the words take you.
Tao Talk 
The cat and the mouse, the powerful preying on the vulnerable. The sophistication of war is what scares me most. Drones, biological weapons etc. Killing people from afar like playing some video game. Great thoughts Jade Li.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Len. I had a conversation with my kids last week where I told them I’d read somewhere that COVID-19 was a man-made virus, and my daughter in-law said they had “studied it and determined there was no way it was manufactured by humans.” I wasn’t aware we know all that about COVID-19 already. I wouldn’t put anything past any human. I wish it wasn’t so 😦 I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Reena’s challenge.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ve said it so well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Sadje.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
The mouse has to hang a bell on the cat’s neck, that way he will not be able to sneak up on them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
war is rage, unconstrained and allowed to fester, encouraged by financial gain, that’s my opinion. much like the virus we are seeing now perhaps. I recall a passage from the works of Buddha, where a ruler gets shot by an arrow and wants to know everything about that arrow except take it out of his side. there’s a lesson in there somewhere, we want to dissect everything yet are unhappy with the answers and don’t see the point….ah i am rambling! good post Lisa, much I get from your words of wisdom.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A appreciate the arrow in the side story, first time hearing it. Yes there is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gautama Buddha’s parable of the man dying of a poisoned arrow. Here’s the parable (c&p from Wikipedia):
— It’s just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, ‘I won’t have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.’ He would say, ‘I won’t have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me… until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short… until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored… until I know his home village, town, or city… until I know whether the bow with which I was wounded was a long bow or a crossbow… until I know whether the bowstring with which I was wounded was fiber, bamboo threads, sinew, hemp, or bark… until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was wild or cultivated… until I know whether the feathers of the shaft with which I was wounded were those of a vulture, a stork, a hawk, a peacock, or another bird… until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was bound with the sinew of an ox, a water buffalo, a langur, or a monkey.’ He would say, ‘I won’t have this arrow removed until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow, a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander arrow.’ The man would die and those things would still remain unknown to him.–
Such is the life-threatening danger of egocentric ignorance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Even better with all of the details, thanks Gina!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Even better with all of the details, thanks Gina! Chuang Tzu has a lot of similar parables as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
i stumbled upon it and loved the truth told without being preachy. I will read up on that too, thanks Lisa.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Chuang Tzu is out there on the internet. 33 Chapters. One of my favorite translations/renditions is by Victor Mair, but there are a lot of good ones.
LikeLiked by 1 person
lovely, thanks for the info, I will surely get an audio for that, great for when I am doing housework!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like how one quote leads to another, and the discussion it generated on the page.
Here, trains, buses and flights have all been stopped to prevent movement. A large group of migrant workers was chucked out by slum landlords, for their unemployment and inability to pay rent. They decided to walk back to their villages, which are in other states. They know they can die on the way, infect others, go hungry for days – but if they reach home, there is shelter and food – grains, vegetables and dairy products from family farms. I don’t know who is waging a war on whom. Yesterday, some late announcements were made about providing buses, but one has already died enroute.
Stray animals are suffering as the people who feed them are in lockdown, We try and make our small effort to feed a few.
The internet and mobile phones were a gamechanger for our generation, but this halt in existence will be remembered for longer than that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh Reena, it is horrific and haunting
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yesterday, staying arrangements have been made for them in the capital city, and a few officials suspended for letting them congregate in one place under lockdown conditions. Action is late, and nobody goes to the root cause that social security is not available in a 1.2 billion country.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Reena Saxena and commented:
Lisa’s thoughts on war ….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those who pull the triggers are now so insulated from the results that there can be no equality or balance. If there ever was… (k)
LikeLiked by 1 person