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If I had to go to war I would be a coward, how about you?
Of course if my country was invaded that would change things a bit but I just couldn't imagine being in a situation with bullets, bombs & grenades going off around me killing all my mates. Any digger in my mind is worth ten of me any day!!
Dorian Knus
Pabitra Mukhopadhyay 30+
I'd loathe to go to war or send my son to one and I don't believe it's because my son and I are cowards. It takes way more courage to fight against vested interests of wars on a daily basis.
adesh saxena 20+
Mathew you are courageous enough to ask this question.
george lockwood 30+
I believe that you and I are a little old now.
I believe you are right - if your country were invaded you would fight anyway.
Kate Blake 50+
I personally believe that war is merely for profit and that the powers that send our defence personnel into harms way have a lot to answer for. I worked with defence for years and the training actually rewires the brain. Whilst duty in a conflict situation cements it.
Those who die, it is an extremely sad waste. Those that survive must live with the consequences and they are not pretty.
I would also be goaled for deserting .... And I certainly know ex-service personnel who have vowed to break their sons legs, do anything possible, to stop them from joining or serving overseas!
greg dahlen 30+
Does thinking you'd be a coward make you feel bad? Are you courageous in other aspects of your life? If not, how can you increase your courage if that's what you'd like to do?
Mathew Naismith 10+
Letting down my digger mate’s yes I would feel bad but I have proven that I’m not all together a chicken but who knows until one is faced with such dilemmas?
Love
Mathew
greg dahlen 30+
peter lindsay 30+
natasha nikulina 50+
Me too :)
Mathew Naismith 10+
Yes your right......I like the person I am now
natasha nikulina 50+
edited
What i was trying to say is : the game and the gamer are not distinct.
I don't know what i would be like and i don't want to .
Mathew Naismith 10+
This is a reply to Pat Gilbert I thought I would share with everyone.
I would fight for my own country like they did in both world wars, fighting for someone else’s country &/or freedom!!!!........Hmmmmm…these days there’s usually a reason other than freeing people.
If everyone just fought for their own country there wouldn’t be any wars however we don’t live in a world like that so war is a necessary evil I’m afraid.
Not too recently some of the boys came home from Afghanistan & said “what where we doing over there?”, now these are trained professional soldiers not conscripts saying this, it’s a bugger I lost the site address. I really feel for these blokes.
It is funny mentioning profiteering from war. After the WWII the big money lenders went into Europe & made an even bigger killing by lending huge amounts of money to European countries, a lot of this money they lent came from supplying war materials during the war but this should never take away from the soldiers who fought for our freedom, if it wasn’t for the boys in WWII we wouldn’t be here in Australia as the Japs soldiers weren’t the nicest people back then.
Very few people like war but it is a necessity for us to live free on the other hand fighting for control of oil & other resources isn’t in my mind quite right, only the big boys up top benefit from such actions & I’m not going to die for them even though they are also a necessary evil.
Love
Mathew
Scott Armstrong 50+
edward long 100+
Scott Armstrong 50+
Don Anderson 20+
Although education is the preferred tool to achieve freedom, sometimes war is a necessary evil to keep or achieve it.
I’m grateful to those who serve in the US and other military for freedom.
For the past 10-years I fight everyday my own war against a progressive disease, and not once has the thought of taking cowardly path been considered, instead I have and will always take the path of virtues no matter how hard it may be.
Hehehe; I guess you could say that I shoot/inject myself every day for my freedom and after that, shooting someone that wants to take it away sound easy.
Gail . 50+
edward long 100+
Gail . 50+
It is wholly illogical to think that Free is something one has to buy. It is an innate birthright for those who know what free means.
edward long 100+
You actually believe that simply choosing to be free makes you free? Freedom is an "innate birthright"? How is that working out for the suffering,starving masses of Africa today? What makes you free is someone fighting to gain your freedom and to preserve it. You are beneficiary of war TED Lover. Condemn it all you like, after all, that's one of the freedoms it won for you.
Gail . 50+
I cannot choose freedom for you or anyone else - even if I wanted to. I can only choose it for me. No one but me found my freedom and no one but me can experience MY freedom. No mercenary gave it to me or even made it possible. To use an equivalent you might possibly use, God gave it to me at my birth.
Of course, I define freedom differently than you, seeing as I am a woman who lives in the USA, and have very few of the freedoms you have. A white, male, christian defines freedom very differently than many others who do not share the same pro-military values.
edward long 100+
God gives freedom, it is Man who takes it away. If no one has taken away your freedom it is because your fellow citizens faced their fear and went to stand in the gap for you. They fought and many died to let you enjoy your God given freedom. You call that a bad thing for them to have done? You condemn those who make that choice today?
Gail . 50+
Jesus said that ALL that you ask if answered. If you ask to see your own vulnerability, you will see it. If you ask to see your own power to protect yourself from harm, you will see it.
I am surprised that you would ask what freedoms non-christians are denied in the USA. How about the right to own our own bodies in most states? How about the right for homosexuals to have jobs that they are qualified for, or to marry? How about the right to adopt in many states - and what about the rights of the unadopted children created through such stupidity - who are cast into the streets homeless and penniless at age 18? What about the right to have my sacraments be legal or my religion to be a legitimate religion? What about my right to not be a slave to christian militantism - so that my labor is not required to support that which I view as ethically abhorrent. Jesus did say "Love your enemies" and "Do good to those who would harm you".
this is not because of any moral mandate. This is how one establishes one's safety in the most hostile of environments.
I do not condemn those who make that choice. Jesus said, "Judge not". I don't. I simply disagree. I have no gratitude for what they think is a sacrifice made on my behalf. That sacrifice is in their minds only. I do not want them to sacrifice themselves. I want them to live. Do you, a christian, have gratitude for my position?
edward long 100+
QUOTE: "Rather an impotent God, don't you think?"--
All things are possible with God. That does not mean God does all things. His eternal decree is being worled-out as we live our lives. Just because he does not do something does not mean he is impotent. He is omnipotent.
QUOTE: "the right to own our own bodies in most states?"--
What specific "right" are you saying is restricted? Abortion? Sodomy? Bestiality? Sadism?, Child Porn? Etc.?
QUOTE: "the right to have my sacraments be legal or my religion to be a legitimate religion?"--
What specific religion and sacraments are you talking about?
Do I have gratitude for your position? No, because I have no definition of what your position is. Are you a Communist Witch, a Druid Goddess, a Tantric Temptress, a Nihilistc Revolutionary, a lovely Christian wife, mother, and Sunday School Teacher, a racist rabble-rouser? I can only guess. Narrow it down for me so I can answer your question.
Gail . 50+
Clearly, you know by now that I am not a "lovely Christian wife, mother, and Sunday School Teacher", though I do base my life on the teachings of Jesus - as spoken by the man, not as interpreted by Paul.
As for your comment: "All things are possible with God. That does not mean God does all things."
OK, that's what you have asked for, and that's what you have received. I have asked for something different, so I have received something different. All that I ask is answered. I have learned to take care with what I ask.
Just because I do not value or appreciate your (apparent) service does not meant that I do not value and appreciate you. I just wish that all these mercenaries would stop trying to give me a gift that I never asked for, do not want, do not recognize as a gift, will never appreciate, forces me into unwanted slavery that they call freedom, and that undermines what I taught my children and what their parents are trying to teach theirs.
Linda Taylor 50+
I would go because my people need me.
Grace Greene 10+
edward long 100+
Allan Macdougall 50+
If both are manifestations of western political ideals justifying the taking of so many lives, then I can safely call myself a coward.
edward long 100+
Allan Macdougall 50+
I'm struggling to get my head around the justification for sending 16 year old kids to their death, in the name of... what?
edward long 100+
Colleen Steen 500+
I do NOT see this choice as hiding "your head in the sand", as you say Edward. For me, anyway, it would be a conscious, informed choice.
I agree with Allan in that there is no disrespect for you or your courage Edward. I do not agree with your previous statement Edward....."God gives freedom...". If this was true, she would genuinely, loving grant freedom to live in peace for all people, I'm sure:>)
Hopefully, we are evolving beyond the need to kill and torture people in the name of god or freedom.
edward long 100+
Colleen Steen 500+
Grace's statement is:
"I would much prefer to spend the rest of my days in jail for failure to kill/murder others."
Your statement is:
Enjoy the freedom to espouse your opinions young lady. We killed and murdered those who would have taken them away from you, so far. There is another way to look at war than to hide your head in the sand"
You are not suggesting that her way is hiding her "head in the sand"? That is what your statement looks like to me.
If this is not what you are saying, even though I've read your comment several times, I cannot see any other meaning, and your explanation does not make sense to me.
Grace wrote that she would rather go to jail than to kill others. She didn't say anything about sitting home condemning others....nor did I in my folllow up comment.
edward long 100+
Colleen Steen 500+
James Turner 10+
Jedrek Stepien 10+
edward long 100+
Ross G
Love will turn a coward into a hero in an instant.
Krisztián Pintér 200+
Mathew Naismith 10+
Australia has huge amounts of mineral resources anyway Iraq was invaded for only it’s oil & it’s all desert , we have a lot more than just oil resources in this country.
Love
Mathew
Krisztián Pintér 200+
Mathew Naismith 10+
Yes I suppose it's a little like that Krisztian, we had one pommy couple come out & they complained that everything bites, well I suppose if you’re born into that situation you know no difference & being down under just adds to the excitement.
Love
Mathew
peter lindsay 30+
george lockwood 30+
Okay I worked as a lwyer so "I was pretty safe, but I was fortunate to get infantry training as all Marine officers did and probably still do. You look pretty safe now too.
In fact, many young men are unusable. Why even think of things like that except others have died for our freedom and experienced worse things?
Mathew Naismith 10+
I think it takes a special person to hack it even after basic training.
There are worse things in life that can happen I suppose like being raped by a mob of blokes which does happen especially in prisons however the thought of going to war still irks me but I’m well & truly past the age of being called up.
Love
Mathew
Linda Taylor 50+
Mathew Naismith 10+
When I was going to secondary school we talked about going to war & of course most other kids said yes about going but even then I said no way not because I’m a peace loving hippy or anything like that but I could just imagine the terror & my views to day haven’t changed.
However like I said if someone invaded this country things could be quite different but I would be still scared out of my wits, not sure how young men do it.
Love
Mathew
pat gilbert 100+
Mathew Naismith 10+
I wouldn't be waiting for you that's for surePat, I'm all chicken.
pat gilbert 100+
But war is way too often used as a money making activity. It is an investment made by the country with no return. The U.S. has been at war now for what 12 yr. WW2 only lasted 4 yr what is wrong with this picture?
Mathew Naismith 10+
I would fight for my own country like they did in both world wars, fighting for someone else’s country &/or freedom!!!!........Hmmmmm…these days there’s usually a reason other than freeing people.
If everyone just fought for their own country there wouldn’t be any wars however we don’t live in a world like that so war is a necessary evil I’m afraid.
Not too recently some of the boys came home from Afghanistan & said “what where we doing over there?”, now these are trained professional soldiers not conscripts saying this, it’s a bugger I lost the site address. I really feel for these blokes.
It is funny mentioning profiteering from war. After the WWII the big money lenders went into Europe & made an even bigger killing by lending huge amounts of money to European countries, a lot of this money they lent came from supplying war materials during the war but this should never take away from the soldiers who fought for our freedom, if it wasn’t for the boys in WWII we wouldn’t be here in Australia as the Japs soldiers weren’t the nicest people back then.
Very few people like war but it is a necessity for us to live free on the other hand fighting for control of oil & other resources isn’t in my mind quite right, only the big boys up top benefit from such actions & I’m not going to die for them even though they are also a necessary evil.
Love
Mathew
pat gilbert 100+
Prescott Bush George H's dad and George W's grandad was found guilty in a U.S. court of law of financing Hitler.
The wars are created by a third party for financial reasons I.E. keep the defense contractors busy.