The Reality of Conflicts
I have been reading Alvin and Heidi Toffler's War and Anti-War. The book is fascinating as it discusses the analysis of conflicts, the historical, psychological, sociological, and cultural backgrounds of wars of the entire world. The Toffler couple beautifully opens their book with a quotation from Leon Trotsky, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you."The book is actually a zeroing in of a very phenomenal reality based from Toffler's previous book The Third Wave published in 1980. It describes three transformatory phases in human history. The first wave refers to the agricultural revolution which happened 10,000 years ago which significantly altered the human civilization. The industrial revolution precipitated the second wave of human civilization 300 years ago. The third wave refers to the present situation we are in -- the post-industrial, the information-based civilization. And so, Toffler actually gave symbols for these three: the hoe referring to the first wave, the steam engine referring to the second wave, and the computer referring to the third wave.
This present book presents cataclysmic notion on war and anti-war. Quoting from the book:
"But while wars actual, potential, and vicarious shape our existence, there is a completely forgotten reverse reality. For every one of our lives has also been shaped by wars that were NOT fought, that were prevented because "anti-wars" were won."
For Toffler, war and anti-war are not either/or opposites. The thesis of his book is presented thus: "the way we make war reflects the way we make wealth -- and the way we make anti-war must reflect the way we make war."
After all, we have our own private wars to contend with. We are at war for survivals. And the reality of this war can be concretely seen in our everyday conflicts. The reality of conflicts is the reality of war in our lives. How we resolve these conflicts determines the battle that lie ahead. I haven't finished reading the book. I have been gaining a lot of good insights. I realize that each man's conflict contribute to that collective war that is about to break out.
Yet, reflecting further and deeper, that the biggest and greatest war I had to contend with is my self. We tend to blame others and situations, but fail to blame ourselves. See, how we can confront ourselves.
