The Roots of War: Preface

1 Preface “Wars can be prevented just as surely as they can be provoked, and we, who fail to prevent them, must share the guilt for the dead. ” – Omar N. Bradley Once upon a time there lived a demon that had a peculiar diet: he fed on the anger of others.... More

1 Preface “Wars can be prevented just as surely as they can be provoked, and we, who fail to prevent them, must share the guilt for the dead. ” – Omar N. Bradley Once upon a time there lived a demon that had a peculiar diet: he fed on the anger of others. And, as his feeding ground was the human world, there was no lack of food for him. He found it quite easy to provoke a family quarrel, or national and racial hatred. Even to stir up a war was not very difficult for him. And whenever he succeeded in causing a war, he could properly gorge himself without much further effort; because once a war started, hate multiplied by its own momentum and affected even normally friendly people. So the demon s food supply became so rich that he sometimes had to restrain himself from over-eating, being content with nibbling just a small piece of resentment found close-by. Followers of Buddha often tell this ancient allegoric story, that it might somehow help explain man’s inhumanity to man. It Less