Sunday, March 5, 2023

Solutions to War Mankind's Failure


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In the Catholic Times' Eyes of the Believer Column, a director of a Theological Institute gives the readers some thoughts on war and what it does to all of us.


Last January, many people were surprised by the sudden rise in gas rates—the heating bomb— so she opened the bill nervously. Fortunately, thanks to turning on the boiler less, she was relieved to see it was just a little more than the same month of the previous year, but when compared to Jan. 2021 the gas cost increased by 36% when she used a similar amount.
 
In the news, the root cause of the skyrocketing heating bill this winter is the war that broke out on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia, the world's second-largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, is using its energy resources as a weapon by cutting off natural gas supplies to Europe after unleashing a war.  
 
Korea mainly imports liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar and the US, so there has been no supply/demand problem. The warm weather continued in Europe, so we managed to survive this winter, but the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns that the energy situation after March this year cannot be guaranteed.
 
The energy problem is serious, the war in this region, a world-class granary, has exacerbated food shortages around the world. As the prices of gas, electricity, and food continue to rise, our lives are becoming more and more difficult. The tragedy of war in the faraway countries of Russia and Ukraine has a direct impact on our lives, and once again we realize how closely the global world is truly interconnected.
 
However, no matter how difficult we find it, there is no comparison to the suffering of those who are in the middle of a life-and-death war. According to the announcement of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on January 10, the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine reached 18,657, including 7,110 dead.
 
Russian and Ukrainian military casualties over the past year are estimated to be at least 100,000 each, so it's staggering how many lives are lost in these wars. What's even more terrible is that this war doesn't show signs of ending anytime soon, and many neighboring countries are beginning to focus more on war preparations by increasing defense spending, and there are even signs of escalating the war. Korea also increased its defense budget by 4.4% this year compared to last year, and there are growing concerns that it might be swept away by the winds of war.
 
In this year's 'World Day of Peace' statement, Pope Francis mentioned the reality that a vaccine for the Corona-19 virus that shook our daily lives was found, but the war virus still has not found a solution, not only the parties involved in this war but also mankind. 

In paragraph 261 of the Encyclical 「All Brothers」 published in 2020, Pope Francis also said:  "Every war leaves our world worse than it was before. War is a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil. Let us not remain mired in theoretical discussions, but touch the wounded flesh of the victims. Let us look once more at all those civilians whose killing was considered 'collateral damage'. Let us ask the victims themselves. Let us think of the refugees and displaced, those who suffered the effects of atomic radiation or chemical attacks, the mothers who lost their children, and the boys and girls maimed or deprived of their childhood. Let us hear the true stories of these victims of violence, look at reality through their eyes, and listen with an open heart to the stories they tell. In this way, we will be able to grasp the abyss of evil at the heart of war. Nor will it trouble us to be deemed naive for choosing peace."

The words of the  Gospel: "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44), may sound like naive ideals in the context of the complex international political order, but those who look more deeply into the misery of wars taking place around the world today and those that suffer from them, the way of peace is brotherly love and nothing will take its place.



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