The unquenchable thirst for "MORE"

 

I was just thinking about a simple phrase "Freedom of Speech" ; perhaps the simplest of all concept yet so many revolutions and wars have been fought for this simple phrase.  However it is important to ask ourselves why it is so important?


As I sit in a room overlooking the sea listening to the breeze and the cuckoo outside the window I can't help but feel safe, even in a land foreign to my own. I can't imagine what it is like for a girl my age who I sitting in a room listening to the horrible noise of gunfire and air raids.


For twenty somethings like me war has always been a part and parcel of our existence. We are the children of the 80's one of the most volatile periods of history. Why? well we grew up in the decade when everything was changing. After the radical 70's the 80's was defined by the quest to earn money and the thirst for 'MORE'.
So for people like me it was one of the most confusing eras to be born in. We were born in conservative times when everything was self centric the world lived under a shadow of conflict. The USSR was dying and it's various satellite states were becoming quasi democratic states.


The advent of the 90's brought the first spate of wars. So children in the first decade of their lives saw their parents listening to the news regarding the first Gulf war and the Balkans. As we entered our teens we witnessed the 9/11 attacks and various other acts of terror. The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq gave a glimpse of that unquenchable thirst for 'MORE' that had gained prominence since the eighties.

The human cost of War

It will be exceedingly naive of one to believe that the greed for 'MORE' by which I mean the urge to gain:

Power, Money and everything else wasn't present before the 80's but at least then the world was preoccupied with the Cold War and wasn't really in the position to indulge in anything other tan spreading communism or controlling the spread of communism depending on which side one was on. However the fall of  the USSR left a void that was quickly fill by the leading countries now concentrating on meddling in the affairs of the countries that were of strategic importance to them. Thus came the advent of the era that I like to call "Senseless Wars" . 

In all this the one most important thing that has been overlooked is that simple phrase again; yes, that phrase that was used to justify the needless loss to humanity : "Freedom of Speech". In all these countless wars that were fought since the late 80's that is the one thing, perhaps the most important thing that has been overlooked. 

I can say this with the utmost confidence as I have been part of the generation that grew up with one conflict after the other. As 8 year olds we could see the flimsy reasons behind the conflicts in the Gulf and the Balkans and we still don't see the reasons behind the justifications given behind the myopic reasons behind the world meddling in the Middle East. So, in conclusion if the world now chooses to start another senseless war in Libya , at least the phrase ie, giving the Libyans the "Freedom of Speech" should not be used yet again to justify another wasteful war. 

NATO hit Tripoli