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What have you been doing in the past hour? Reading blogs, surfing the web, chatting with your friends, listening to music…? Have you thought of using that time to do something more useful? What about killing someone? Doesn’t it sound like fun? Not really. Nevertheless, in the past hour 21 human beings in the world were killed by war. By the time you are done reading this text, there will be two or three more of them, killed by soldiers whom we are told to support.

Who is the next person to be killed in the name of peace? Maybe they will not be killed by one of our soldiers. Perhaps they are going to be killed by soldiers from another country; another country where people are also told to support their troops, that is. Everywhere in the world, people are told to support their soldiers. Everywhere in the world, people are told their army is doing the right thing. What exactly are all those soldiers doing that deserve support?

Have you ever thought of what is the main purpose of an army? Why do armies exist in the first place? Why do most of the nations in the world (with a few exceptions) have an army? The answer is simple: armies exist to protect a nation against other nations, against their armies. So armies actually exist because armies exist. Not a single nation in the world would ever need an army if there was no army to defend from. The need for an army actually comes from a false idea that wars between nations are normal. For a nation to accept this idea and build its own army to take part in wars is to support the whole concept of war, of men killing men in the name of peace. How can war bring peace? War has never and will never bring peace. It only brings violence, injuries, death. Enrolling as a soldier is to support the army and therefore to support war and what it causes. Then why would I support our troops? Why would I support people who are taking part and supporting all of those wars that are tearing our world apart? I will not support our troops. I will not support our army. I will not support war. I will only support peace.

However, though the main purpose of an army is to defend the country, most armies also do some good. They usually take part in rescue missions when natural disasters occur and we can’t deny they are doing a good job there. Some people will say that this is exactly why the army is so important. If this is the true purpose of the army why then are the soldiers carrying guns? Why are they trained to kill? Why is there so much money spent on weapons? Why aren’t soldiers called “rescuers”? Why isn’t the army called a “Rescue Force” then?

Instead of spending lives and money on training soldiers to kill, nations should really review their priorities and use those resources better: train those people to do useful things such as helping their fellows and use the money for health and education instead of weapons that are only good at taking lives.

Peace will never be achieved through an armed force even with the best intentions in the world. At some point nations will have no choice to survive but to follow those wise words: “They will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4)

This goes out to every single person whose life has been destroyed by men’s insane wars.