There is a loss of self in peace,
a curious emptiness, a void to fill.
Wounds too deep to lick crave blood to spill;
congeal on wounds to deep to heal,
a sorry comfort to an empty soul.
A warrior ever roused,
he seeks solace in barbarity
striking terror to the moment,
the inglorious glorious moment.
And his bloodied hands slake his sordid soul
satiate his lust for blood,
bring completeness to that moment,
that inglorious glorious moment.
Anna :o[
Björn’s
Tuesday prompt at dVerse is that of: War for peace – or just hard work? He requested we use any form or trick to
make us long for peace and not just hate war.
Although it is true I yearn for this world of ours to exist in a
permanent state of peace, I cannot see it happening, ever, as mankind is as he
is, is a predator, his prey being power and possessions. There are some of us that walk softly on this
Earth leaving our gentle footprints and oh so many others who churn up this
Earth in unimaginable savagery and greed.
War
is the hallmark of our history since the very beginning, the very beginning when
we dragged ourselves from the primordial soup, and so it continues. Look around our world today, the barbarity
that exists within it and how we seek (to some degree) to ignore it; let it be
some others problem as we hang on to the tiny space we have defined as ours. Please read this article on War and Peace in
which it notes that there have been some 250 major wars since the end of WW2.
On
the same Tuesday night I viewed Meet the Psychopaths, part of which detailed the work of American psychiatrist
Hervey M. Cleckley in which he noted that some WW1 veterans had mental health
problems that would not respond to treatment, and further checking showed these
soldiers carried a history of poor conduct, that of antisocial behaviour. Later work in a general hospital setting, he
came across individuals who showed the same personality traits, the same
disturbed behaviour he had seen in the soldiers earlier. From his observations he came up with 21 traits that to him, defined the label of psychopath and in 1941 his book The Mask of Sanity was published which brought the term psychopath into
popular use.
Estimate
prevalence of psychopathy is that of 1 in 100-150 of us and we are what we
are. Of course not all psychopaths are
of the axe-wielding variety, but look around our world today and you will
recognise those who probably are, recognise them by their absolute barbarity
and the pleasure and power they achieve from it.
And
so it is that evolution has little lifted us little from our primitive mindset
and we will continue to battle until we wipe ourselves out. Sad, but I think true.
I
think it important to state that despite the misery above, I am a very happy
optimistic soul, this state being due to the ability to dampen and maybe hide
the realist in me. Peace!
Image: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Author: Kabir Bakie
