Conflicts around the world

 Conflicts around the world

Wars. What do they bring? Deaths, destruction, and disorder to people across the world. According to War and Peace by Our world in Data, since 1800, more than 37 million people worldwide have died while actively fighting in wars (War and Peace - Our World in Data). What's worse is that according to the United Nations, 90% of war time casualties are civilians! (https://press.un.org/en/2022/sc14904.doc.htm ) During World war 2, over 38 million innocent people have died! Wars only bring pain and suffering and no one should go through it especially in the 21st century. We as humans have been fighting each other for wealth, power and land but also because of hatred and revenge for each other. War will also bring out the worst sides of humanity causing us to commit heinous acts like rape, racism, and rampage upon innocent people. War is not good and we can all agree with that. That is why most of us are against war and that we should live in peace and harmony instead of hatred and destruction. 

Although we have made significant progress since the era of World War I and II, we still have conflicts around the world happening right now, with many people dying and being displaced from their homes. Examples of the wars happening right now are the Russia-Ukraine war, Isreal-Palestinian war, Civil war in Sudan, Conflict in the Congo and so much more (Global Conflict Tracker l Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org)). It is estimated that in the last year, 238 thousand people lost their lives to conflicts (Global conflicts: Death toll at highest in 21st century – DW – 06/28/2023). We’ve also spent 17.5 trillion dollars or 12.9% of GLOBAL GDP from war. All that money could have been spent on so many more important things like homelessness, poverty and climate change but instead our taxes are being used for military uses. We are living our lives funding a military for war that we might not agree with. What's worse is that war is becoming ever more costly, with new advanced weapons like the tomahawk missile costing 1.5 million dollars, just to blow up targets with unprecedented destruction (Why war is becoming more costly - Economics Help). These weapons of mass destruction are what brings death tolls so high. With civilians being in the blast zone or even targeted by these weapons! Imagine your house being blown into dust in mere seconds! Would you like that to happen?

It is important that we stay aware of what's happening across the world so that we can support those in difficult situations and not let their suffering be forgotten. If we were in the same situation we would like to be supported by people around the world, a glimpse of light in a dark world. Nowadays, we live in a world now where we can donate and spread awareness through social media. We can also keep updated through news channels and other people talking about it. It is our best interest to bring an end to these wars but some countries have other plans. For example, currently in the Israeli-Palestinian war, Israel persists in continuing the war with Palestine even after cease fires (Past Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire Periods Didn't Always Hold - The New York Times (nytimes.com)). This has then led to 2.1 million people stuck in Gaza right now with nowhere to go and in risk of being killed by airstrikes while cut off from important supplies like food and water. Here in the UK we have been having protests happening in London (London protests: Thousands march through capital in day of protest - BBC News) expressing their feelings about the dire situation in Palestine and how the UK should take action against this. This is happening across the world and people want change to happen. It shows the persistence of bringing justice to those who are responsible for making people suffer just for their own goals.

Protests happen all the time with many different goals and these protesters can make a difference . For example, remember what happened during the Vietnam war? During the late stages of the war, American students began to protest against the war as it was costly and people didn't want to fight a war that they were not winning. Protests happening at Kent State University ended up with students being killed and causing even more outrage in society (Kent State Shooting - Causes, Facts & Aftermath | HISTORY). This shows how the government is afraid of our voices and the only way to solve it is to try to silence us. At the End America had to pull out of the war from pressure from the public and other countries, ending the 20 year long war with millions of soldiers and innocent civilians dead! (How many people died in the Vietnam War? | Britannica). Even 50 years later, the effects of the Vietnam war still lingers in Vietnam and people's minds (Vietnam Since the War (1976-Present) | Encyclopedia.com). But it also showed that us, the ordinary people, had the power to tell a nation, a powerful one, to stop the war. So why should we not do the same now? We might not be fighting a war but we should be concerned about what's happening across the world and tell our government to take action. Because when we work together for a common goal, we can influence other countries to listen to us for the betterment of our world.

We see peace be represented in many different forms, and one of them is in religion. But in general, religion teaches us to not kill and fight with people as it is a sin, and instead show love and compassion for the needy people. For example, in Islam, we are told to imagine that killing one human is like killing all of humanity but saving one human is like saving all of humanity (Killing a Single Soul Is Like Killing All Humanity (islamweb.net)). We can all learn something from that and we should be open to new ideas from different people. It allows us to understand the different perspectives on difficult topics and resolve these issues. We should allow everyone to express their opinions but at the same time strive for the same goal.

We are lucky enough to live in a safe and stable country but that could all change. We could be called into a war like in ww1 or ww2, having to fight for a fellow nation in a war that we didn’t start but it doesn’t mean that we should do nothing. During the war in Ukraine, many people have shown their support and sympathy to the innocent people stuck in the war, and countries across the world have gave aid to Ukraine in hopes of stopping the war (These Countries Have Committed the Most Aid to Ukraine | Best Countries | U.S. News (usnews.com)). Unfortunately, the war still persists today but we should not stop showing our support for the people. In the end, no matter what your opinion on the war and which side you support, it is important to push our agenda’s away and remember that the innocent civilians are the one who are the most affected. We should all come together and express our concerns and opinions so that people become aware of it and understand. If we don't do anything, what stops people from waging wars in the future and committing war crimes? With no concern for innocent people. We should strive for a peaceful world in the future and it is important to discuss these serious topics so that we would not repeat it again. Even after thousands of years of war, we as a species still have yet to learn to work together and the only way for times to get better is to teach ourself and the future generations about it. 

Learning about the past is good but learning about what is happening right now is even better. So we should implement these ideas to our school. Bring up these topics during assemblies and discussion clubs. School is a place of education, so not learning about the current state of our world would be against the purpose of school. Schools nowadays are culturally diverse with some people coming from around the world looking for a safer place to live, and we should recognize the difficulties that they have to go through in order to make a more welcoming place. Unfortunately, not everyone wants or cares to know about the importance of the conflicts but school should change these ignorant attitudes of our young generation so that we could actually be educated and know what to do in a time of crises. We can be more sympathetic and knowledgeable. Therefore, creating a more uplifting society where people are willing to help and learn from each other.