NO TO WAR!
The recent events in Ukraine have shown us, once again, the true horrors of military conflicts. As always, the most vulnerable citizens are those who suffer the most – women, children, elderly persons. Such has been the case throughout history and, therefore, a true mind-changer should always advocate for peace. The prolonging of any conflict would bring only more suffering and abuse, more anxiety and horror – a huge humanitarian crisis already unfolds in front of us.
As Europeans, we have gone through horrific and unforgivable events in our lives and our history, and the main objective of the latter should be to learn from it and not to allow this to happen again, to strive for peace and to recognize the fact that there is no justification for the loss of human lives – every life matters, since every life is precious. Moreover, in these troubled times, we have important things to focus on, like climate changes – these are affecting each and every one of us, regardless of our social status, our country or, indeed, our nationality. We should work together to make a better life on this planet and we should try to save what we can, not kill the life on it, in any form. Wars are catastrophes that disrupt not only human lives, which is unacceptable and immoral, but also the balance of other forms of life – by using all sort of arms and guns, wiping entire cities off the map, we are destroying our climate and our forests, and the damage is horrific. We acknowledge the fact that only peace can assure our wellbeing and, for that matter, the wellbeing of our planet, who has suffered continuous aggression and destruction.
War is immoral. War is a tragedy. War is suffering.
Not one more life should be wasted. Children should enjoy the serenity and happiness of childhood games and childhood friendships, they should breathe clean air and walk in parks and gardens. They should not die in wars, they should not be separated from their families and they should not have to worry about tomorrow. The fact that this is happening shows us the complete absurdity and atrocity of war, which comes with prices too high to pay – the lives of others.
A vers from a poem by Georg Trakl (Winter Evening) defines our current state:Grief has worn the treshold into stone. We are, indeed, petrified: the horros are unspeakable, the images – impossible to watch. The humanity has lost too much already, and we should not allow the very core of it to be lost forever. There are no winners and losers in a war: we are all losers: we lose our hope, our lives, our routine, our loved ones, our homes, the things we love, our sense of fulfillment, our sparkle and, last but not least, our dignity and our humanity. As it has been proven again and again, no one is the same person as before after a tragedy like war. We become more disengaged and disillusioned by the day, because war always shows as that there is no point in going on, in striving, in building, in loving and in living. We are losing. All of us. The only way to learn to live together, to build together, to laugh together is by being in a peaceful world. Without that, we have nothing. Peace is our greatest achievement and the best policy we have.
Therefore, petrified by grief and sadness, we say the only valuable and reasonable thing:
STOP THE WAR!