Make Love, Not War

Before you make a snap judgment and dismiss this slogan as nothing more than a quaint old popular saying from a long time ago, there is another aspect to consider.

It seems that PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) among returning military veterans is a contributing factor to the rising number of cases of domestic violence in military families.

A reasonable conclusion is that if we increase the amount of vilence in the world, we feel it at home, and when we reduce the amount of violence in the world, we feel the results at home too.

Is the rate higher now than in earlier wars? That may be harder to prove because in many of our earlier wars, we did not even have a term for this, although related terms like "shell shock" were used.

A reasonable person might also surmise that there was less after World War 2 because it was generally agreed that that war was one that we needed to fight, and we were victorious. Not only were we victorious, but then the years following it were years of economic expansion and prosperity as people got back to more peaceful pursuits such as building homes, creating businesses, and starting families.

Today's veterans are returning to a difficult job market, having served in a war that most people think we should have never started in the first place. These are difficult pressures for any person to face. How many people with good educations and solid work histories are now having a hard time finding jobs with decent pay?

The cost of war is paid for in many ways besides the dollars we spend on arms and supporting the troops in other countries.

Make love, not war might be a better prescription than many people give it credit for being.

After all, how would our world look if our energy was devoted to creating and building and strengthening our country? What if we brought all the troops home that we could and got busy fixing up our country? What if more people were busy making love, not war?