2008-08-31

Little Respect

Finally our baby is sleeping. Lately he often wakes up already after a few minutes although still very tired. So I might have only a few minutes. And I have to listen carefully to eventually baby crying.

I remember my time in the army. It was similar when we went to bed. There was always the possibility of an alarm (although always practice alerts). So I often listened carefully because for me it was pure horror to get awake by loud alert. And this was only the obligate training service I did. I have never been in real war.

This makes me feeling empathy for army soldiers fighting in wars. I do love peace and I remember well the T-shirt slogan of a friend saying: "Imagine there is war and nobody shows up."

In a war there is no winner, there are only losers. Some loose more, some less. So war does not make sense. But do people always behave in a manner that makes sense? Often it is enough to feel some fear to cause unhealthy actions that lead to big conflicts. Such conflicts may grow fast or slowly over many years and then escalate.

I think the army has not a good image. The army is like the savage guard dog of rich people. They let him out in the night to feel save. In the morning and when visitors arrive they lock him away because they feel some sort of shame or because of the danger they can be. But in the night they let him out again.

We can easily say that we are against war and want to live in peace. But when there are armed forces invading and we have to fear that your children may get harmed then we do want a strong army.

I think similar applies for many other things in our life. When we do currently not need specific things or specific services, we might ignore those or disrespect them. Only when we need them in a sudden we give the appropriate respect and support.

Let's try to give the appropriate respect to everything - and everyone - that is - even if we currently don't care too much because we don't see the need yet.

Related posts: To be important, Stop war by stopping defense, Dissolved aggressiveness, Best defense, The wise talk less.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you mention an example or two from daily life?

I understand the concept of taking things for granted but this sounds like something a little stronger.

Martin Wildam said...

Yes, I mean not just to avoid taking things for granted.

Examples from daily life:

You might find flowers an unnecessary gimmick but when you like a girl you might find out that you can create happiness with flowers.

You might not find advocates very sympathetic until you need one.

You might not appreciate the modern mobile phones with internet feature included until you are searching for the next gas station while somewhere alone on the highway.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, they were some good examples.