After a War
AFTER A WAR
After a war, men gather in a dimly lighted room and draw lines on maps. Powerful men who are engaged in the eternal practice of dividing the spoils of war, much like the Greeks divided the treasures of Troy, including the women, after the terrible destruction reigned on the city in the war that lasted ten, long, exhausting years. Much like the Plains Indians collecting trinkets and valuables from the prostate bodies of the members of the Seventh Cavalry after the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Much like American soldiers stripped swords are souvenirs from the Japanese dead during the Second World War. Much like the victor has done throughout history, war after war, conflict after conflict. The spoils of war have always been divided among the victorious. Else, why have a war.
But these men in the dimly lighted rooms drawing lines on maps are different. They didn’t participate in the war. At least, they did not participate in the actual combat. There lives were never at risk. They may have been involved in the planning, they may have followed closely the progress of the fighting, but they never participated in the fighting itself. They never shrank into a foxhole as bullets whizzed overhead. They never heard the sound of screaming bombs falling from the sky or felt an enraged enemy’s hand clutching at their throat. No, their participation was always limited to looking at numbers or discussing strategy over cocktails or planning how to divide the spoils of war after the victory.
These men are called politicians and after a war, they meet with other politicians, representatives of the other members of the victorious forces. They meet behind closed doors and divide the spoils of war, the countries they have conquered. They draw lines on the map, erase them and draw them again as the bickering and bartering of the winners goes on into the night and draws on for weeks and maybe months. After a war, there is always another battle to be fought, a battle between the victorious to determine who controls what. Each looks after his on best interest and only his own. Compromise comes after long and heated discussions, even arguments. No one is completely satisfied. Each wants more than he gets and the final decisions are often determined by who is the most determined, the least willing to compromise, the least willing to give that piece of the spoils that he wants and the most willing to continue the arguments and the drawing lines on maps until he gets exactly what he wants. It is the one who just wants to get the whole thing over with and move on who weakens and gives in to the demands of the most determined. And often, the most determined is not the one who contributed most to the outcome of the war but a minor player who has not contributed much to the war effort but knows that the real victories are not won on the battle fields but in the dimly lit rooms where men are drawing lines on maps.
And the loser whose land is being divided, whose country as he knows it might disappear from the map, is not present in the dimly lit room. He is not a participant. He is not consulted. His views, his knowledge of the land, it’s history, it’s people are not considered, are not important to the victors divided the spoils. They only see the the country in terms of rich mineral resources, good farmland, vast forests, rivers, mountains, and access to the sea. They look for strategic positions that they want to be under their control so they can maintain or even expand their position in the conquered land. In the old West, one who controlled the water supply, controlled all the land that was dependent upon that water supply for survival. It wasn’t important to have all the land in your possession, only those portions without which the others could not survive.
And so the new map is drawn, often using obvious and easy to determine dividing lines, a river, a mountain range, but just as often using arbitrary divisions based on mineral deposits or strategic positions of strength.
Never, never are the people who are living on the land and who will continue to inhabit it consulted. Their wishes are never known, never considered. No thought is given to homogeneous groupings of ethnic groups. No consideration is given to the culture or cultures of the people who will dwell side by side in the new land. People who share the same religions and beliefs are separated by the lines drawn by the men in the dimly lighted rooms. People of conflicting religions and beliefs may be thrown together, confined within the new lines, each struggling to maintain its own culture.
The lines are drawn. Homogeneous groups are divided. Peoples that have been in conflict for centuries are thrown together. And so the seeds of the next war are sown. Unwittingly, maybe, thoughtlessly, certainly, but sown nevertheless. So that one war begets another and another and another. The men who draw the lines never seem to to learn the lessons of history. Mistakes are always made. Errors are always repeated. And new wars are always fought. Young men die and old men draw lines on maps.
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