IS THE WORLD STRUCK DUMB AS WORLD WAR THREE APPROACHES?

We are in a 'Phony War', that period when war is being waged but its effects have not yet hit home. Our politicians appear intent on bringing those effects to us. Yet silence largely prevails. Why?

There was a time not so very long ago when the threat of nuclear war motivated a great many people to get out onto the streets and tell their governments in no uncertain terms that they should act to prevent it.

Now… **crickets**.

The current situation of virtual international silence persists while the juggernaut toward war seems only ever to be provided with engine upgrades rather than brakes by our politicians. Every indication is that they perceive some great benefit to themselves in the pursuit of war rather than engaging in actions that might bring peace. Do they have a death wish that recklessly encompasses the rest of us?

You may have noticed that diplomacy these days is notable by its absence. It has been converted to a means to engage in trickery rather than evidence sincerity, simply another way to wage war and burn bridges rather than looking to find peace by building them. Yet few of us seem to be concerned by any of this. It’s just a case of business as usual, or rather perhaps simply doing the usual mundane day to day without looking up from the virtually endless toil of surviving modern life.

We will surely look up when the bombs start to come down. Far too late then of course. 

Are we so disgusted with politicians of all sides that we have sunk into fatalistic apathy on this point. Do we have a permanent Que Sera, Sera attitude to just about everything outside our own limited sphere of influence now?

Perhaps take a look at that foreign land they call the past sometime where minds were not as dulled or as lazy, where there was a communal desire to survive and determination to get together in solidarity to protest the insanity being demonstrated by our leaders? Discover what has been largely lost in the western world, the desire to act together in unity when we are in mortal danger from the stupidity and recklessness of our leaders.

Have we all been sold on the selfishness and self-interest of competing rather than cooperating? Have the last few decades of rampant, materialist consumerism made us all self-isolating to the degree that we trust no one but our direct family any more. Is that it?

Whatever lies behind the apparent slothful unwillingness to stand up and be counted and take a stand for everyone against the oncoming war the resemblance to lemmings heading blindly to the cliff edge is striking. 

What good will all our shiny assets of car, home and all else do for us when the mushroom clouds rise balefully on the horizon and the deadly wind from their almighty blasts comes soon after? No God above will help us then. There will be no helpline waiting on our call for rescue. We will be wiped from this earth along with all we love and hold dear. You and your neighbours that you never got to know. All gone in a matter of seconds.

Might it not be a good idea to protest this oncoming reality? Perhaps give up the balm of the mindless drivel on your television set for a while and get to work with others to raise some noise? Or is life too short to worry about mass death and destruction of all we know and risk being distracted from those things you consider to be so much more important?

It’s up to us. Wait for the oncoming war, hoping for the best. Or get up from our cocoon-like TV nests and do something about stopping it?