The need for security?
Alongside the need for water, food and shelter, the need for security is one of the most basic requirement for human happiness, unlike the first three it is not just a physical need but a psychological need. Threats to security do not just come from immediate danger, they can be long term and existential, they can be the fear of the big bad wolf hiding in the woods, it does might not have even attacked someone, just the terror of it lingering around waiting to strike is enough. We fear the wolf even without seeing it or not knowing where it is and we are not going to be happy until it is gone, we will patrol, hunt, search, set traps, lock our doors before the dusk and make sure we put the fear of god into our children to be home before their curfew, and we will not be happy until the wolf is dead. It is a fundamental human drive that we will take all necessary actions to get to a place of security, and it is deep in our genes that we can not truly be satisfied until we have it.
Fear produces an awful lot of action, we will put a huge amount of energy and effort to attack and defend against it, even when it is out of proportion to the threat that we face, that security is an investment that we consider priceless when we do not have it, and yet we do not even notice it when it is present. We take peace and safety as a given, as it should be, we should be able to forget it as there are so many better uses for that energy, it is the human capital that we need to invent new technology, for growth, productivity and pleasure, and security is the root capital from which all the fruits of civilisation grows. Which is why it is so sad that threats keep on emerging, that chaos keeps on returning but that does not mean that peace is not worth fighting for, that we give up, these are the moment when we get to decide which path the world is heading towards and every effort should lead towards security for all as that is the only way to secure true peace.
Insecurity only leads towards more chaos, they drag each other down, one action provokes a worse reaction, people are pushed towards destruction one step at a time when they have nothing else to lose. There forms a run away critical reaction when one person has nothing left they lash out and take away everything that someone else has to lose, people fall like dominos, as a single disaster spreads out as a wild fire with the wind blowing outwards in all directions. The only hope is that it is a flare up that burns itself out, for if it rages and turns into an inferno that is no out running it, and the world is so combustible.
The world is increasingly interconnected which is both wonderful and dangerous at the same time, there are no safe zones left anywhere, the nuclear threat respects no borders, there are no walls to contain it, it would spread and infect every corner of our planet, humankind would become an archaeological curiosity for future alien species that would wonder why they were alone in the universe. There is only one grade for escaping the fate of single planet societies, pass or fail, you migrate and spread or die out. Once the first fire was lit in Africa, we have been under starting orders for the race to the stars, we could have stayed as animals in pure innocence just the victims of changing environments that would have come for us at any moment. Instead in that moment of embracing the technological stick, we decided on joining the big race and we developed the awareness of our own mortality so that we could defeat it, we risked it all on technology, we live and die by it, we developed larger brains, language, we joined together, we started telling stories, and stories bind us together, they are the building blocks of society, what is a country but a story that we tell ourselves so that millions of people can live and work together whilst sharing common values (impossible for a tribe to do, which needs everyone to know each other thus limiting them to a hundred or so people).
We choose to be more than animals, we took the chance on technology and we have only two options, succeed or fail, and failing meaning the total destruction of our world, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to live a quiet life, that is what the drive for security is all about, it is the dream that powers our action, there is no more noble ambition, forget the rest of it, it is meaningless compare to the delight of spending an evening with family in peace. Sadly we do not get to choose whether we enjoy this time, there is so much fear in the world, so much fighting over so little, so many mistakes have been made during the history of our people, that there is a never-ending list of conditions for peace that they can never truly be resolved. There is only the choice at the level of the individual, will you settle for peace, you might be armed for war, to defend that small piece of the world that you call home but will you settle for peace when the opportunity arises, that is the difference between good and evil, it is not meaningless, there is clear water between the two, will you settle or will you be greedy, will you want more, is it not enough to have peace, do you want power over the actions of others, that is the line that should not be crossed.
Greedy is so easy to dress up in clever language, to disguise underneath the clothes of wanting security, which is a need, you can call an occupation a protective mission but it is still violence, it is still greed, it is wanting power over the actions of others and it never succeeds in the end and whilst you wait for the realisation to occur to everyone, people die. That is the price of greed, people die for it, and once people have tasted the fruits of that greed it becomes something that you can lose, you become the people defending your own resources, it is a cruel delusion that fuels the circle of insecurity. There is only one escape from this cycle, to only want peace, the peace to live your life freely, nothing more, that is the basis of every peace deal, every settlement, everyone gives up their greed and settle for peace.
It is not easy, for some the greed might be for vengeance, for the accounts to be settled, for every death to be repaid by the death of another, that has never worked as every settlement is another debt. You have to give up so much for peace, it is not fair, everyone benefits equally even your enemies, even the person you hate the most in the world and all you get is peace and that person is out of your reach forever, your chance at revenge is gone, that is the price of peace. Even more galling is that to reach peace you must give your enemy a path to peace, you have to leave it open in the hope that they will escape your justice, that you will not get everything you want especially when you are at your strongest, that is the moment to strike with peace, when your enemy is on their knees, as if you don't their sons will come for you.
Peace always comes in the end, why wait until all the mothers greave, when there are no more sons to sacrifice, when spirits have been crushed to point that they are poisoned for a half a dozen generations. The strongest peace comes at the earliest possible moment, the longer you wait the harder it is to grow sunflowers out of the copses of your soldiers, but always peace comes again unless our greedy ever overwhelms our ability to rebound, unfortunately the gods of war have to only be lucky once and they could get the total war that they have always desired, the war to end all peace. I believe that the only thing that has ever saved us is that desire for security, that inner goodness that allows us to give up our greed for something better, for security, safety and the certainty that we will see the next day and it will be as peaceful as this day has been.
It might be the dreams of a fool but better that than being a wise dead man, the idea that peace can return always seem to be the most foolish just before the dawning of peace and the promises of never again, how many times has that commitment been broken. Even the industrialization of war has not created enough fear to take war off the table, war is no longer personal, it is just accounting, a machine for the slaughter of sons, brothers and fathers, they are the oil that drives forward our combine harvesters that rip through the fields of our future. Such is the need for security that they are willing to sacrifice their lives for their families to have peace, to enjoy the simple things, and it is the mothers that have to the loudest voices for the end to the turning of machines that rob of us of the future that we all should see. The greatest warrior are those that know when to stop, that can recognise the line between peace and greed, they do not serve the ego, pride or desire, they do not seek glory just peace and no more, and it only by their sacrifice that we get back to the security that we need so badly.
