Page 3 - A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return, Expanded Edition

Introduction

A song I used to love back in 1969 asks what war is good for. The
answer: absolutely nothing. My politics are pretty simple: people

have the right to love one another, regardless of gender; basic health
care is a human right; women have the right to control over their
own bodies; it is unfair for 1 percent of the population to have all
the wealth while 99 percent have nothing; and war is bad.

But I don’t understand wars. OK, I get the reasons for World War II
and the American Civil War, but I will never understand World War
I. What was Bosnia all about? Why did Iran and Iraq fight with
each other? And what was the reason for the Lebanese Civil War?
Are there justifiable reasons for wars?

From my untutored viewpoint, a bunch of old guys send a bunch of
young guys out to kill and die while ordinary people like you and me,
caught in the middle, simply try to survive. And sometimes, in the
course of surviving, we do beautiful things.

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