When will it stop?

Human beings are probably the most destructive force the planet has ever seen. Not only do we go around killing everything else, but we also kill each other.

It starts with a taunt, then maybe a few blows are exchanged, and suddenly everyone's falling under gunfire. Internationally, it'll be a politically incorrect statement or a country moving to strengthen its military force and other countries are "forced to retaliate". The rest of the world, for all its social and economic divisions, finds themselves in an "us against them" situation.

All it takes is one person to ignite the catalyst of human pride, to give people a cause to fight for and twist it to fit into their own malicious powergames. Soon people forget what they're fighting for - if it wasn't for that one person airing their sentiments every half hour, drilling their masterplan into the putty-like brains of their followers, and even though the fighting wouldn't stop, in the lulls, they'd find themselves staring at the ground, shuffling their feet, with a sheepish look on their face.

The "War on Terror" is a tragedy in the making. It started out because someone didn't like the US, and proceeded to kill thousands of civilians to make that point - that's what I think, the real reason has probably been long lost in the annals of media coverage and political spitfire. Then suddenly religion came into play - the very essence of what makes us human, humanity's only good contribution to our ailing planet. Suddenly it's wrong to practice what you believe in, religion has become the scapegoat, just like so many times before, and the delicate ties of goodwill and tolerance are completely severed.

Naturally it becomes another cause to fight for, though I know of no religion that promotes fighting, that they should "convert everyone under threat to life, and shoot everyone else that doesn't". Then again, no sane dictatorial leader will face the might of the US army head on, so innocent people get pulled into the bloodshed. They become the bargaining chips, the pawns in a ruthless game - the US army cannot protect every single civilian, they even have trouble protecting themselves.

It's not a wonder that extra-terrestrials haven't made contact. We're too busy destroying ourselves to be of any use to them. Lives seem to get cheaper and cheaper with each passing day. There's no such thing as good and bad in a war, no such thing as honour or martyrdom, each person is just as guilty of the atrocities committed as the next, and the violence only serves to bring an unending shame to humanity.