The war of men

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” –  Leo Tolstoy

Maybe I don’t know my history but I can’t think of a single war the United States has been involved in over the last 200 years that was started, escalated, or encouraged by a woman. War is a male mindset, fueled by testosterone, pride and ego. If we were to eliminate those three toxic ingredients all over the world there would be no more war. Would there be absolute peace? Probably not, but rather than using bullets, bombs and blood to solve our disagreements I would suspect, if the world took a more feminine approach to resolving conflicts, our planet would be a much more hospitable place.

So why don’t we? Why don’t we make more effort utilizing, as Tolstoy noted, the two most powerful tools available for peaceful resolutions “patience and time”? Because all of the conflicts, all of disagreements, all of the hurt feelings and slights are driven by testosterone, pride and ego.

We have all seen the old movies with images of “savages” or bandits attacking the homestead or wagon train. The females are huddled in a corner shivering and shaking from fear while the men take-up arms to “protect the womenfolk”. This is the romantic portrayal all males have grow-up believing, we are the protectors, men are strong, women are weak. I am here to tell you as a son, brother and father this is a myth, nothing could be further from the truth.

At 56 years old testosterone doesn’t surge as potently through my blood stream as it once did. My pride will at times rear its ugly head only to be reminded but the beautiful women in my life that what I should be most proud of can’t be taken away from me or threatened. And my ego, well it is kept in check by these same beautiful women who remind me that I am not as smart, or as clever, or as good-looking as I think I am.

The escalation, hate and fear this world is currently experiencing have one source, men, men driven by testosterone, pride and ego. What is most amazing to me, despite all the advances humans have made, we really haven’t evolved much beyond the knuckle dragging Neanderthals who used rocks and sticks to beat each other silly. The difference today, we use bigger rocks and more potent sticks.

I hope, for the sake of this planet, and for the sake of my children and future generations that we will at some point very soon neuter the majority and dominate male influences in government. Men have proven we are incapable of making sound and rational decisions that benefit everyone, decisions that don’t feed our ego or pride, decisions that aren’t driven by testosterone. We have had plenty of time and ample opportunity to show that we are capable of resolving conflicts without shedding blood. We have failed. We failed as Homo erectus two million years ago and we continue to fail today.

“War does not determine who is right – only who is left.” –  Bertrand Russell