10/14/2025
I do not credit the tyrants for making peace, but for recognizing that it was the better move. External efforts, protests and mediators helped them to see that their end-game was a mirage. They were dragged by their own insecurities and opportunism to the negotiation.
There is no victory in destroying or conquering your enemy. Such simplistic thinking feeds the delusion that war is a finite game, and perpetuates the cycle of violence, from within and without. Such thinking merely ensures perpetual insecurity.
The credit, for any peace and its sustainability, goes to those who make the belligerents aware of global disapproval and its consequences. It goes to those who expose the weakness of distributive strategy.
We do not become secure through wasting physical and moral energy and resources on overpowering our enemy. That only makes entropy the winner, and leaves us vulnerable to other threats we don't anticipate.
It was not the great and powerful who brought this tenuous lull in the perpetual struggle. It was not the soldiers or generals. It was not the rulers. It was the many small and gentle warriors who stood up, spoke up, and acted non-violently to end the violence.
To the embattled, the terrorized, and the oppressed, violence is the emotional and instinctive solution. That is human nature. That is the so-called "common sense solution." However, "common sense solutions" are not based on deep understanding. Humanity survives largely because of our ability to transcend human nature. For this reason, the embattled, the terrorized, and the oppressed, will always depend on the support of others. They depend on the cultivation of the greater wisdom, kindness, and insight that is within us all.
The end game must not be to conquer our foe, but to make them our ally. We will never be secure so long as our neighbours are not safe. We will always have enemies unless we learn to fight for each other instead of against each other.
