The Sword of Divine Justice

Be careful where you place your hope, for hope never stands, when supported below by ever
shifting sands. Every man needs a rock to bear his own weight; standing on sand is tempting fate.
Only God ever provides a solid resting place, where everlasting hope meets everlasting grace.
When feeling abandoned by all those around you, remember your Father remains always beside
you. Though God may to your eyes occasionally remain unseen, his presence remains alive in
your hopes and in your dreams. The eternal promise of a welcoming future, amid so many
questions still unanswered, should be the only guiding ruler, measuring the true distance to your
answers. As this unforgiving world mercilessly tries to silence you, remember your voice is
always heard, by the Angels assigned to guard you. Archangel Michael is their legendary leader,
always humble in character invincible in disposition, a warrior healer whose heavenly mission is
vanquishing darkness, answering pleas of contrition.So when battling injustice, remember you
are never alone, God above all surveys the world from his Heavenly Throne. No heart remains
unread, no motive remains concealed, every word ever said before divine justice always yields.
The unredeemed victims of today, all raped, tortured and killed, whose names remain effaced
from a history as yet unfulfilled, will never be forgotten by the King of Kings, who the sword of
divine justice wields. The powerful of today, voraciously enjoying the riches of the world, rarely
bow down to pray, their conscience all condones. For them there is no right or wrong, but simply
desires to be served, a waiting not to be prolonged for pleasures seemingly deserved. An evil
man rarely recognizes himself as such, blind to divine moral values that his heart never touch.
For rulers engulfed in eternal night, every human right bows before their tyrannical might,
enshrouded in a moral turpitude devoid of any redeeming light. Facing such injustices is no small
task, when silence is the only voice greeting questions asked. Despair leads a man to question all
he has, cursing the divine for all he sorely lacks, but disbelief must not be his tragic final act,
God´s eternal vigilance is anything but lax. For others not besieged by questions, because their
carnal desires have been fulfilled, faith remains only for the weak a bastion, while they reject the
reasons why the King of Kings was killed. Only when tragedy strikes and their pleas for justice
go unheard, would they reconsider all they once disliked, finally turning to the Word. When
contrition is sincere, God´s forgiveness knows no bounds, allaying every fear, silencing every
sound. But all the iniquities of evil men that in this world go untried, will be revisited again when
every crime is finally tried. The justice of this world, bought and paid for with gold, allows the
weak to be massacred, guaranteeing their stories remain untold. Though we must battle the
principalities of air, when justice in this world remains elusive, remember God remains forever
fair, justice is only temporarily illusive. When God finally speaks to you, he extracts the truth
from inside, no evil act remains concealed, no evil motive forever hides. The Book of Life is
opened and every page is carefully read, every single moment is revealed, every doubt quelled at
last. The promise of divine judgement is not an empty dream; it is the certainty of perfect justice
that all righteousness redeems. While a man may be defeated, fighting for justice in his time,
before God´s divine eternal justice there is no unpunished crime. When fighting injustice, should
you encounter obstacles along your way, remember God always rescues, the wronged who justly
pray. The sword of divine justice that all evil slays, shall be unsheathed tomorrow, if not today.

Andre Lamartin

Nov 20, 2017

Andre Lamartin

Jul 8

In Search of Lost Time

How tragic a delicate flower should not outlive its finest hour. Why must beauty always die, while it
longs to come alive? Those who say pride was the original sin have only denied that Envy lies within. But
if memory could recall a time before the Fall, would there ever be... a love once so carefree? Bright are
the colors of star-crossed lovers always destined to stay... so close but far away. If for the price of fame a
lover most atone, the burden of her name is always living life alone. But does she still believe true love
does not deceive those condemned to wait just to meet their fate? A flower forced to smile while in so
much pain is always dressed in style to solidify her reign. The same love inspiring so much song and
dance is always aspiring for a second chance. Time of all enemies... is the most fearsome one of all,
imposing undue penalties that can force a man to crawl. Against Time waging a war that impatience can
only deplore, what can now be said of the innocence already bled? Does Envy not precede the pride
before the Fall in ways you must concede has only hurt us all? Silence has more to say than eloquence
ever agrees, the true meaning of this day only love can ever seize. So much there is to learn that should
be of great concern, our hearts must now be open to the truth so rarely spoken... That men should
always strive to tame and to destroy a love meant to stay alive as a boundless source of joy can only be
the cause of undying consternation, breaking all the laws that justify Creation. That innocence once lost
can never be regained may simply exhaust those by Time once so profaned. Only a flowering good taste
is ever fully prepared to wait for the right moment to avow... a world alive only for now. Though always
devout one strives to become, so an ocean of doubt can now be overcome, never does life stand still,
incessant is the battle of will, as past and present collide with the turning of the tide. Second is the
chance meant to redeem us for the first, a once rebellious stance leading to a war once so accursed.
What is one to do when the old rejects the new, when the heroes of the past are as villains now recast?
Always learn to listen before knowing what to say, petals born to glisten should never time betray. The
dreams of the past once bound to forever last will always come true, if only for a few. So is it time to
overrule an entire generation, so as not to be cruel to the future of a nation? Only a defeated common
sense lives under the false pretense that much one stands to gain from unnecessary pain. To sway a
desperate heart one must strive to look the part of one commanding great respect from a world so few
reject. A price there is to pay for the mistakes along the way, but perhaps it should suffice to heed my
best advice: always strive to illustrate all beauty carried inside, darkness will never abate... if hope is
ever allowed to die! Rarely arriving as planned, Death never abandons its style, opposing life is only
grand if Time is the enemy you revile. Tomorrow only justifies the pain of yesterday if one never vilifies
the meaning of this day. So Envy once again, what has your venom done to me, if even a master of men
is always destined never to be free? Some are born to play a role, many would die just to avoid, no
forgiveness can console those whose work all destroyed. Though peace may seem sublime, war must
never cease. Life has no time for those who rest in peace. Defeat is simply victory always in disguise, to
the past unchaining liberty, true hope never dies! While defying eternal starkness, the day succumbs
before the night, as light gives way to darkness... strive to shine just as bright! Avoiding all extremes
while starting life anew, believe all our dreams are destined to come true! Every tragic end may portend
a new beginning... for those who still contend the time has come for winning. Never should Time devour
the cherished dream of a promised land, outliving its finest hour, this much true love should understand.
Tragic is the servitude of man after the fall when rude is the awakening that Time must rule us all.
 Andre Lamartin


o Jul 19, 2021

The Joke Is On Us
The tragedy of filmmaking is that light should be used solely to convey darkness. With so many
interesting stories to tell where the characters involved explore the depths of the human soul,
most of what passes for commercial filmmaking focuses only on the dark recesses of mankind.
Although these dark movies have a lot to say about the time and place where they were made,
they must be properly interpreted by well discerning eyes. Always to be appreciated from a safe
distance where fact and fiction are clearly distinguished, these films should not encourage the
audience to emulate in real life questionable examples set by fictional characters on screen. If
reality is sometimes stranger than fiction, it is only because the two may occasionally seem
indistinguishable.
“Joker” is one such film that explores the dark recesses of a tortured human soul without
condoning, embracing or glorifying the darkness portrayed on screen. It invites the audience to
understand how its main character becomes the deranged archcriminal of DC Comics fame. But
any association with the superhero universe is a detriment to the story told, especially for a
movie that takes itself seriously. The film follows the tragic, harrowing descent of Arthur Fleck,
a lost soul hounded by an unforgiving society who oppressed him from birth. Arthur is a man
who dreams of a happiness and a sense of professional fulfillment that he was never truly entitled
to have due to circumstances well beyond his control. Although some hold the truth to be self-
evident, believing all men were created equal, those like Arthur would most certainly disagree.

Abandoned by a father he never met and raised by a mentally ill mother who long ago
succumbed to her own personal demons, Arthur works as a struggling clown who desperately
tries to extract a modicum of laughter, dignity and joy from an otherwise tragic life, one he so
frantically insists on interpreting as a comedy. Struggling to survive in a major American urban
center, he is subjected to unrelenting humiliation and violence, while being treated as an outcast
that desperately longs only to be accepted. Despite daydreaming of success in showbusiness as a
standup comedian who works on television, Arthur´s compromised social skills severely limit his
interaction with ordinary members of society. Suffering from uncontrollable bouts of laughter at
the most inconvenient times, he inadvertently offends strangers, being forced to inhabit a world
of his own tortured imagination.

After being assaulted and robbed by a gang in one of the first scenes of the movie, Arthur muses
to a social worker, “Is it just me or is it getting crazier out there?” Raised by a broken family,
Arthur becomes a broken man desperately trying to find his way through an unforgiving world
that never gave him much of a chance. As he longs to find meaning in a life entirely devoid of
love and support, church and family are simply nowhere to be found. Despite living as a
mentally ill pariah, none of his problems are addressed by the medication taken. That a man in so
much pain should earn a living by eliciting laughter from the very society that constantly
oppresses and humiliates him is a contradiction not to be lost on anyone. Working as a clown, his
pursuit of happiness consists of bringing joy and laughter to a world that only wants to tear him
down.

But as the story unfolds, the more Arthur is subjected to violence, the more he responds by
becoming violent himself. The movie depicts a spiraling cycle of abuse that leads Arthur to
confront his abusers with greater violence than he was previously subjected to. Refusing to
accept this never-ending cycle of abuse, violence and humiliation, Arthur strikes back by taking
the lives of outwardly successful and supposedly productive members of society, those who
shared a sadistic pleasure in abusing him. By the time he is finally given an opportunity to
perform his act on television, the tragic transformation into an archcriminal was already
complete. Confronting the very society that abused and humiliated him his entire life, he no
longer strove to elicit laughter only to feel accepted. The man once called Arthur Fleck had
finally become the Joker.
Entirely devoid of histrionic special effects, "Joker" grossed over one billion dollars worldwide
and earned Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar for best actor. Offering a stellar dramatic performance that
carried the entire film, Phoenix embodied the gaunt, emaciated figure of a man struggling to
believe in his own existence amid a society that simply had no time or place for him. Only when
Arthur Fleck finally lashes out, killing supposedly fine and upstanding members of society, is a
public commotion raised in support of his actions. Hardly is he the only one feeling alienated and
assaulted by a society that dehumanized him to the point of embracing violence and lunacy. As
large crowds are always more dangerous than those who attract them, the city is then thrown into
chaos. The issue of extreme social inequality is also brought to bear when Arthur's humble
origins and impoverished lifestyle is contrasted with the imperious words of billionaire Thomas
Wayne, his alleged estranged father frequently seen only on television.

That so many people across so many countries identified with such a dark story having little or
no uplifting value speaks volumes about this day and age. In fact, a lot can be said about a
society according to those it chooses to portray as its villains. While laws are codified to punish
their conduct, prisons are erected to restrict their freedom. When the apparent irrationality of
their actions impugns their sanity, these villains are heavily medicated, sedated, and locked away
in insane asylums. For those who believe that out of sight is out of mind, involuntary
commitment, incarceration and extrajudicial killings are the only available answers for tortured
souls like Arthur Fleck. It is no coincidence that America has the largest prison population in the
world and the highest incarceration rate of any country. What truly guarantees freedom in the
land of the free and home of the brave should be a hotly contested topic of much debate. After
all, what is freedom in the land of the American dream where so many frequently pursue a
happiness that is so rarely ever found?

Although the people stand against the values these criminals epitomize, a sincere effort is hardly
ever made to understand how they first spiraled out of control. Criminals like Arthur Fleck are
not simply born, they are created over time when subjected to unrelenting, mounting pressures
that destroy their souls and obliterate their dreams. After arming himself for protection, taking a
gun to the cancer ward of a children's hospital when visiting as a clown is what apparently makes
sense in Arthur's desolate world. Even while working as a clown surrounded only by sick
children does he feel the urge to protect himself. The question is what brought him to this point.
Little or no responsibility is ever ascribed to the society that so often oppresses, alienates and
vilifies its most vulnerable members. This subhuman treatment only exposes the injustice and
hypocrisy of a state that punishes its weakest members for the sins of its supposedly strongest
ones. If the measure of a society is taken from those it chooses to portray as its villains, then
Arthur Fleck may be the Joker, but the joke is on us.
 Andre Lamartin


o Nov 16, 2021

An Allegory of Dreams
The tragedy of accepting the facts of life is all the harm done to a once fertile imagination. Little
can be said on the redemptive value of dreams if a cynical assessment of a man's circumstances
solely dictates the entire realm of possibility in his life. Dreamers, adamantly set on redefining
the malleable bounds of reality, have always written some of the greatest success stories of all
time. Valiantly striving for all they sincerely believe to be true, dreamers never quiescently
accept arbitrary limitations cravenly imposed on their true potential, especially if facing
seemingly insurmountable odds. When a cynical world stands unjustly united against the most
righteous of oneiric plans, never will dreamers simply bow down in silent reverence before the
cowardly dictates of fate. If the law of probability is all that stands in his way, a man devoid of
dreams dies long before his final day.

Having always fought for my most deeply held beliefs, pursuing my dreams was a task
undertaken from an early age. The sobering disillusion eventually experienced resulted from
conquering a treacherous mountaintop only to later realize the final view left much to be desired.
The rarefied atmosphere of this seemingly oneiric experience, so deliriously enticing for some,
spoke of an alternate reality remarkably different from all previously known before. This dreamt
final destination was populated only by those willing to sacrifice considerably more than most
are willing to bear, always sporting an undivided sense of superiority for the myriad obstacles
supposedly overcome along the way. That so many could have sold their souls to so few, always
so tragically beholden to a miserable number on a paycheck, openly countervailed my most
deeply held beliefs of what a true meritocracy should entail. One of the many problems of
reaching the top is realizing you could never descend any lower. If the final application of your
education pales in comparison to the original intended purpose, always be careful with the end
result of the knowledge once so laboriously acquired in school.

The much-lauded teamwork that presumably once led the way was conspicuously replaced by an
asinine, competitive, individualistic drive compelling every man to fight solely for himself, only
hypocritically paying lip service to the group as a whole. In a work environment, where the very
concept of loving your neighbor as yourself was frequently derided as a lunacy meant only for
fools, there was very little appreciation for what a true collective effort should actually entail.
Taking liberties with the venerable Gospel of Gordon Gekko, while the many work only for a
few, the drive to succeed never sleeps even when you do. Family life being a mandatory
sacrificial offering all were forced to make, long hours of mindless work, and considerable sleep
deprivation were universally required just to maximize short-term profitability. In the
pathological absence of a true meritocracy, this proved to be an entirely self-defeating
proposition. Individual talent and personal effort were simply never properly recompensed, much
to the obvious detriment of the collective good as a whole. Although underestimating another
man's intelligence only speaks against our own, the problem about always being patient with
ignorant people is just giving them more time to be whom they really are.

Having safely descended from the dizzying heights of this treacherous mountain, my natural
inclination was simply to search for a more welcoming environment, one where greater
existential meaning could finally be found. Many were the mountaintops conquered since, but
the disappointing final experience remained sadly the same. However high a man should bravely
climb, the acerbic dissatisfaction resulting from perennially unmet expectations only made him
question the true driving force behind the whole experience. As Rudyard Kipling once
suggested, a man should fight for his dreams without necessarily making them their only
masters. The real world imposes sobering limitations on our dreams, openly conspiring against
the continued ruling power of our imagination, despite our most deeply held hopes and still
unfulfilled expectations. Having renounced so much that was so diametrically opposed to my
beliefs, it is difficult not to become despondent with a world that so openly antagonizes Christian
values and teachings. Those always questioning the malleable bounds of reality should be careful
about living outside them. Believing in fiction raises the bar to an impossible level where
realistic expectations are never met. There is nothing like the illusion of perfection to forcefully
restrain one from truly embracing reality.

That life should be an existential journey, and not just a dreamt of destination, has proven to be
truly useful advice because this lifelong quest for a vibrant, albeit peaceful existence has been
both epic in scope and unforgiving in nature. Driven by religious values, professional goals,
family obligations, and personal aspirations, I have lived, studied, and worked in three different
continents during the course of the past four decades. Having searched far and wide for a
fulfilling Christian life, this has proven to be a distant dream, if not a practical impossibility. This
only led me to question whether the Church is currently imprisoned within the confines of its
own walls, assuming they still stand. Lest one should forget the price of being evil is foregoing
the obvious alternative, a professional, academic, or family environment so conspicuously
divorced from all the Gospel has to say can only be revealing of blind hypocrisy. Ponderous
words, always divorced from corroborating actions, are morbid lies dressed only for public
consumption. As a man, who knows all too well the meaning of pain, never teaches it to others
with words alone, perhaps the only problem in always believing in yourself is expecting others to
follow your personal example. Acts sometimes speak louder than words only because they offer
silent testimony to corroborate all so sincerely felt before. By demonstrating his faith and
personal values through individual conduct and social interaction, a man is judged solely on what
he says, does, and believes, as well as all he refrains from doing or saying. Always bearing in
mind the Gospel, as a moral and spiritual compass so diligently followed, this is how a Christian
goes about finding and treading his path through life. Having a proper sense of direction implies
knowing where to go and what obstacles to avoid or overcome along the way. In the end, all a
man decides to avoid or renounce says just as much about his faith and character as all he once
decided to embrace. What a man refrains from doing can be just as important as what he
deliberately does himself. But as every difficult choice implies an accompanying renunciation,
all of this comes at a steep price.

The final cost incurred for renouncing so much that still stands against my religious values is an
unforgiving isolation that should only be characteristic of apocalyptic times. Distancing myself
from those having markedly different priorities and values was an imposition dictated by the
vicissitudes of life, especially if the dreams of the past were to remain alive. Those compliantly
willing to sell all their time away can never pursue their most deeply held dreams unless the
object of their innermost desire is simply living a billable life, one where all is up for sale. In
opposition to this crass notion, Jesus once said in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters.
Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve both God and money.” As those living only for eternity should clearly
understand: satisfying false material needs is all this world has so carefully planned. While
striving to avoid everlasting damnation, serving a fallen world should never be a Christian´s
primary obligation. When setting out to discover lost treasure, the most intrepid may search far
and wide only one day to finally realize: it could only be found deep inside our own hearts,
minds, and souls, deep inside the most treasured parts of our own selves. The inestimable offer
of eternal life stands solely for those daring to dream of a Christian life, long before said dream
could ever come true. Only those always believing in a love that never dies… ever truly stand a
chance of understanding eternal life. But in a perennially hectic world where so many believe
time is married to money, little is to be accomplished while one so quiescently slumbers.
Awakening is always preferable to falling asleep, only then can our dreams finally come true.

 Andre Lamartin


o Jul 3

"It´s Evolution, Baby!"

Humanity´s dominion over the animal kingdom should only be exercised as if men were truly
superior to his fellow animals. Of the many tragic questions evolution fails to elucidate, man's
seemingly innate capacity to destroy his natural environment and global habitat is most certainly
one. Why self-destruction must be pre-programmed into the human DNA remains a mystery that
should confound the entire human species, especially when playing the self-ascribed role of apex
predators. That those supposedly on top should consider the fate and wellbeing of those down
below would only be revealing of an enlightened sense of rational self-interest, if not outright
self-preservation. It's always important to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself,
unless a superior exobiological lifeform were one day to teach man his true place in the
hierarchical order of the universe. Let's just hope love and humility finally prevail; let's just hope
the strong finally assist the frail. Otherwise, the same mindless cruelty and heartless destruction
so often served to other "lesser species" might one day be force-fed to humanity itself. After all,
as Eddie Vedder himself once so sardonically sang: "I'm in peace with my lust, I can kill cause in
God I trust, yeah! It's evolution, baby!"

That the entire history of the past twentieth century has been one dominated by war, disease,
death, poverty, and destruction is a well-documented historical fact few should feel inclined to
dispute. The industrialization of death itself, first experienced in the chemical-laced, rat-infested,
blood-drenched trenches of World War I, later became a ubiquitous feature of the so-called
modern life. It was even necessary to conceive a new word like “genocide” only to describe the
tragic fate of the Armenians during World War I, and the extermination of millions of Jews
during World War II. That concentration camps like Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald,
and Dachau should have become such hackneyed entries into our present-day vocabulary hardly
speaks of humanity´s alleged superiority vis-a-vis other animal species. Supposed lesser beings,
never so inclined to embrace such unspeakable violence, never perpetrated any monstrous
atrocities of this lamentable nature. If this is how the gentiles treated God´s chosen people, as so
described by Biblical lore, one can hardly imagine how other less fortunate, but sentient beings
are still being mistreated today.

The progressive militarization of the richest, most advanced industrialized nations, leading all the
way to the advent of the Nuclear Age and well beyond, also created an irrational, atomic world
where peace was maintained by the seemingly bizarre concepts of nuclear deterrence, and mutual
assured destruction. Absolutely grotesque is the notion that the most powerful nations of the
world should invest untold trillions of dollars solely to amass weapons of mass destruction,
meant always to be stockpiled, but destined never to be used. Disturbing the ensuing delicate
balance of power between the most preeminent nations was only attempted at our own collective
risk and individual peril. While some countries like America, Russia, China, France, Great
Britain, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel amassed truly apocalyptic arsenals, most other
nations were compelled to permanently divest themselves of nuclear weapons through
disarmament, arms control, nuclear nonproliferation, and international law.

When democratic persuasion and diplomatic negotiations simply failed to travel down this road,
military force was used to the same effect. It´s certainly not without good reason that countries
like Japan expressely renounced war, as determined by article 9 of its constitution, entirely
forsaking one day becoming a nuclear power. They simply never forgot how their unconditional
surrender in World War II was only forcefully extracted after the mass vaporization of Japanese
men, women, and children, not to mention the nuclear obliteration of two major cities. The
unyielding remembrance of past military defeat, the ensuing war trauma, and the desire not to
relive the same tragedy again all silenced any subsequent political drive towards a second
Japanese imperial militarization, one now armed with nuclear weapons. It certainly caused great
alarm and consternation that the development of weapons of mass destruction should be seen as
an essential feature of world peace for a select number of countries.
The horrific notion that only the threat of mutual assured destruction later guaranteed peace
should still befuddle the mind of any allegedly responsible Cold Warrior. The conflict between
the defenders of capitalist, liberal democracies on the one side, and socialist, communist
countries on the other was always meant to be a fight to the very finish. How close humanity
came to the brink of a nuclear Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis remains a tragic
matter of public record. For thirteen strenuous days in 1962, the world stood absolutely still as an
American naval quarantine was imposed on Cuba. The goal was not only to disarm and remove
the Soviet nuclear arsenal already deployed in the Caribbean island, but to prevent the further
shipment of nuclear weapons. The number of unfortunate close calls that could have resulted in
the outbreak of thermonuclear war is certainly not to be underestimated. A chance encounter
between an American destroyer and a Soviet B-59 submarine almost led to a nuclear exchange
that could have triggered a much wider war. While President Kennedy was under immense
pressure from general Curtis Lemay to launch a nuclear first strike, Cuban leader Fidel Castro
also pleaded with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to preempt the seemingly inevitable attack
and unleash Hell on America. Though hectic diplomatic negotiations between the two
superpowers reached a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff, even the later assassination of
American President JFK proved to be less traumatic.

In the end, the same humanity so ingenuously capable of splitting the atom also failed to truly
unite itself. For all that can be said about love being an universal language, bridging even the
most conspicuous of human differences, the Grunge movement of the nineties spoke of a certain
social disillusionment that should not have paired well with its time. As the final act of the Cold
War, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 were
originally heralded as symbolizing the very end of history itself. World renowned professors like
Francis Fukuyama went so far as to proclaim the progressive global dissemination, rule, and
dominance of liberal democracies, finally perfecting the work once started with the American
and French revolutions. Despite the short-lived American unipolar moment, all the additional
war, death and destruction unleashed by the subsequent transitional years should already have
motivated these “deep thinkers” to reassess their bearings. That the blind should always be so
carefully chosen to guide the blind seems like an essential feature of Western democracy, if only
sarcasm could serve us well.

An ultraviolent world where terrorists hijack civilian jetliners, solely to be used as missiles
against commercial skyscrapers in major urban and financial centers such as New York City,
doesn´t necessarily speak well of the sugarcoated, Hollywood ending previously promised. One
should also recall that the original argument justifying the preemptive war against Iraq was the
seizure of weapons of mass destruction, long before they could fall into the hands of terrorists.
How this seemingly noble quest inflamed the torture chambers of the now infamous Abu Ghraib
prison is a sad tale already told to exhaustion. That the CIA went so far as to legitimize coercive
interrogation techniques, so frequently deemed tantamount to torture, was justified as a necessary
evil, if only another terrorist attack was to be prevented on US homeland. The peace, so
irresponsibly promised with the end of the Cold War, resulted in a never-ending Middle Eastern
quagmire that only recently reached its dramatic finale, at least in so far as American military
participation is concerned. As a final tragic act, these wars of attrition followed weary veterans
home, even after the last bullet was fired and the final transfer of power was complete. It's
absolutely no coincidence that the current number of American veteran suicides vastly outstrips
the number of US combat deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This remains a very dangerous
time for nations, their soldiers, and veterans alike.

We now live in an ultraviolent world where great powers no longer feel the legal duty or the
moral obligation to respect the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of otherwise peace-
loving countries such as Ukraine. Now that nuclear nonproliferation has been exposed as the
farse it has proven to be, it would behoove us all to seriously consider what the future may bring.
In 1994, shortly after Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union, the country
decided to disarm, returning the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world to Russia, always under
the promise its borders would be respected, and that no military aggression would ever be used
against itself. Though the political negotiation was mediated and guaranteed by the US and the
UK, twenty years later Russia annexed Crimea, finally invading Ukraine in 2022.

Unprotected by NATO or its once apocalyptic nuclear arsenal, Ukraine has defended itself while
relying on American and European financial support. Forced to bear alone the cost in human
lives, the country has been reportedly subjected to horrific war crimes, all along having little
expectation the guilty parties would ever be brought to justice before international tribunals such
as the International Criminal Court. Now that Europe is faced with the greatest armed conflict,
and humanitarian catastrophe since World War II, how many other self-respecting countries
would seriously entertain nuclear disarmament as a rationally defensible, self-interested, national
policy, especially after what happened to Ukraine? The third nuclear power in the world agreed
to peacefully disarm, surrendering its nuclear weapons to the very same country that would later
invade its territory only a few decades later. Meanwhile, the world is attentively watching. North
Korean leaders like Kim Jong-Un would know better than to disarm, in full expectation of being
unfairly treated by their enemies, even once abandoning their nuclear arsenals. Iranians might
only accelerate their nuclear program as a means to safeguard their territorial integrity and
national sovereignty. The once palatable notion that nuclear disarmament through arms control
and international law can guarantee peace has been forever victimized by the Ukrainian war.
What remains of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, now entirely brought into disrepute, is
anyone's guess, especially given the precedent setting nature of this matter.

If America has refrained from taking direct action, it's certainly for good reason. Triggering a
military escalation that might otherwise lead to an all-out nuclear world war remains one of the
many reasons America has decided not to intervene directly in Ukraine. Aside from the long-
term battle fatigue bequeathed by its past Middle Eastern adventures, and the present desire to
pivot to Asia while trying to contain a rising China, becoming bogged down in another European
war seems anything but strategically enticing, especially given its potential escalation into a
nuclear conflagration on a worldwide scale. Since America and Russia possess the two most
powerful nuclear arsenals in existence, avoiding any direct conventional war between the two
countries is of paramount importance to preventing a possible nuclear escalation, one leading to
an all-out thermonuclear exchange. Unfortunately, this is hardly the only reason Russia should
have thought twice before invading Ukraine.

The tragedy of having a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council be deemed
the aggressor in this burgeoning conflict is only less demoralizing than reaching this sobering
conclusion during a global pandemic that already killed untold millions while still raging wild.
On this note, one should always remember the United Nations was originally created to abolish
war itself as a means of conflict resolution and territorial acquisition in international relations, as
stated in its founding charter. That Russia, one of the permanent members of its Security
Council, initially entrusted with keeping the peace and maintaining international security, should
itself have declared war on Ukraine, only further makes a mockery of international law, as few
other nations have before. Meanwhile, a microscopic, viral organism has currently claimed more
American lives than all major wars the US has fought during the tumultuous course of the
twentieth century. Never should we forget that nature also has its store of biological weapons,
occasionally used to retaliate for past unreciprocated, mindless aggression.

Despite what so many interested parties would have us believe, saying the past few years have
proven tragically turbulent would surely be a crass understatement. Though some may contend
this to be an overly negative and acerbic assessment of global events, caring about the big picture
should never blind us to our own personal predicament. The original spark that instigated me to
write these unpretentious words was a desperate pleading for help from an animal rights
organization. The advertisement, like so many others, instigated me to think about the alleged
superiority of a species seemingly destined to self-destroy. That so many lives should have been
lost to the tragic causes listed above only further indicates how the bond of love that should unite
human beings has been sadly shattered as of the recent past. The tragedy about feeling falsely
superior to others, simply for having amassed more power, is being entirely unable to prove this
self-righteous claim ever to be true. There is nothing like a false sense of superiority to keep one
from being respected for his true stature.

In the end, if love and humility are to finally prevail, all this heartless cruelty we must assail. If
past and present we should always connect, old words are conjured for dramatic effect: What can
ever be said of human evolution, if a record number of dead is our lasting contribution? What is
the real point of an expensive education, if serving only to anoint false prophets of damnation? If
the law of the jungle is all one lives to respect, please forgive the humble for daring to object...
Violence will never cease while settling an endless score, there is no lasting peace for those
living only for war. The deep thinkers of our age, always so well versed in evolution, should
never succumb to rage while in search of absolution. The day of the hunter is followed by the
day of the prey, while satisfying your hunger, what role are you to play? If a wild animal is all
you ever want to be, never consider yourself as being truly free.