The Human Level

On Memorial Day we must all remember the true nature of war.

War is not a series of events on maps or a set of dates in a history book, or even a few words about an individual’s experience. Instead war is a personally enduring trial of what it means to belong to humanity.

Who are we as a species?

What differentiates us from others?

How do we identify, manipulate, and attempt to overpower others in our personal existence?

Can we resolve our differences of opinion in other ways?

I do not touch on those topics very much here. Instead, I simply seek to show the world war is only experienced on a personal level.

War is one person traversing time and space while feeling the moment of existence.

Whether it is positive negative, or neutral, all War is simply personal experience.

Until we can understand what each of these experiences is like for those within their confines, we cannot understand war and its costs.

May we come to see war on the human level, realizing next time we have the choice to engage in one we recognize that choice leads to personal histories which should never be lost.

Alone

Crisp morning air saturates my face as I exist the terrorist threatened State Department headquarters.

I must get out of here!

Brushing gently across the back of my right shoulder, a soft hand jerks me out of my head.

“Where are we supposed to go?” my friend and fellow Presidential Management Fellow, Sarah, asks, as if I have an answer.

Why would I have an answer? I don’t know what’s going on!

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