No War for me

Growing up in the 50s and the early 60s with all of the talk of war with Russia as well as having a father who had spent almost five years in the army during WWII, it seemed almost normal possible that I would be conscripted into the army.  When I was in my very early teens, I felt as if my family or at least people that I knew had been involved in fighting some war since just after the turn of the last century. It was with a certain sense of relief and a dash of national pride when I realized that unlike my peers who lived in the USA, I would never be conscripted to fight a war.  

I can remember, in my early 30s, thinking that I had dodged the bullet and that no matter what - I would never face the pressure to fight. I had wondered for years what I would do if I was requested/ordered to fight on behalf of my country. I now knew that that would never be an issue. However, then my son was born and I wondered every once in a while if he would ever be in a position where he would have to make that decision. It wasn't a constant worry, just an occasional whisper of almost curiosity would drift across my mind when reading or watching the news. When my son reached his mid-30s -  I stopped thinking about it. He too was safe.

I stopped thinking about it, in part, because while there were still numerous armed conflicts around the world and Canada as a member of the UN and NATO has done its share of intervening in some of those conflicts, it just did not seem likely that any of them would evolve into major international conflicts. All of the major world powers seemed to have understood that escalation would only lead to more deaths.

But now I have three grandsons - and I occasionally worry about what they might be expected to do. I worry about the consequences of the actions of world leaders who are so full of their own egos and of such limited intelligence and capacity to see reality (e.g. Trump or Kim Jong-un) that they will start something with profound consequences for thousands if not millions of young people. I worry if the rich elites of the world who are protected by their wealth and privilege will not care if someone else's child dies in a war that they have created. I worry if my grandsons and the world that they live in will be sucked into a vortex of ever-increasing tensions where the only solutions are escalated sabre rattling until someone shoots someone, until the missiles are fired.

Of course, this all may be the mindless wanderings of a man who is getting old and who has far too much time on his hands. Maybe we are not that much closer to war; it may be that the USA's murder of an Iranian general will have no long term consequences. It may be that Iran, in spite of the fact that the USA's reneging on the signed, multi-national nuclear treaty has isolated them and has left them with few choices, will back down and agree to all of the USA's demands. But that just not seem likely.

So now I worry again. Not a lot - just a little twinge of concern as I read the news of the day. There is not a damn thing I can do about it. Any arrogance I may have had about living in a country that does not force its young people to carry guns is somehow slightly dissipated by the knowledge that there are foolish people in charge and they don't really care about me or mine.