David Guchua
Form 11 ‘A’
January 17, 1999
THE CONFLICTS OF THE MODERN WORLD.
A COMPETITIVE SOCIETY.
He, who commands the past, controls the future,
He, who controls the future, conquers the past.
-KANE-
In this composition I would like to discuss the conflicts of the
modern world and the consequences of the competitive society. Being asked
about this I usually start with a competitive society. Because this is the
thing we face in every day life and always ask one question ourselves: ’Why
have we created the world full of troubles and problems whereas we
ourselves live in it?’ This sounds really paradoxical but it is true. For
instance, the taxes in our country bring so many troubles to people who
want to start their own business that they simply have to find ways not to
pay them. Thousands of examples all over the world can be given here but
the idea is that, understanding all this, we do not try even to improve
anything.
On the other hand competitive life exists even at school where pupils
are to participate in a so-called ‘racing game’ which is based on gaining
better marks and results in everything. This idea is not new that is why
different people at different times tried to solve this problem. The most
famous is the of about social equality. The idea of social equality is
really silly, to my mind, because there will always be one who will think
that he is better than the others and just only due to this we will not
ever get equality.
On the contrary, if there is no competitive society there is no
development. It is of no use of aspiring to the best. Nothing but a
competitive society made a man make a flight to space. Besides, there were
a lot of other discoveries, which improved the life and social conditions,
which happened only due to competitive society.
I believe, that there exists only one solution. It is nesessary to
develop the competitive society limited with a strict law. Because we do
not realize that this competitive society reflects Darwin’s theory about
survival but on a higher level. Moreover, we do not realize that the last
level of such development is a war.
From my point of view, the problem of a war is the most urgent
problem nowadays due to the invention of new high technological weapons and
weapons of mass destruction. It is extremely important to bear in mind that
the only horrible thing, which will ever happen, is the third world war.
Wars are counterproductive and useless. A war has no explanation. But
why do wars start? According to history wars can start because of the
territory division, problems of religion, envy, misunderstanding between
diplomats. However, there are many other reasons why a war starts. The main
idea is that people do not usually understand the causes of war and do not
understand its reasons because politicians usually decide weather the war
should start or not. But let us pass over to the history of wars.
The main idea is that the first thousand male human beings were ever
gathered together, they belonged to an army, and large-scale slaughter of
people happened soon afterwards. Moreover, the first army carried such
weapons as spears, knives, axes, perhaps bows and arrows and its strength
did not lie in mere members but in discipline and organisation. In
addition, drill is what transforms a mob of individual fighters into an
army. Therefore, the basic forms of military drill are among the most
unchanging elements of human civilisation. Though every man died his own
death, what happened was quite impersonal during the battle of well-drilled
armies. The result is that thousands of men would die in half an hour, in
an area not bigger than a couple of two football fields. Consequently, a
question immediately comes to mind: ‘How could men do this?’ The reason is
that a formation of drilled men has a different psychology, which tends to
overpower the personal identity and fears of the individuals. In
conclusion, people will kill if they find themselves in a situation where
their own survival is threatened and due to this anybody can be persuaded
and manipulated in this way.
But the war has changed through the ages in some ways. First, the
reasons of war somehow differ. Besides, the scale of wars has changed. In
addition the technology has greatly changed and plenty of new weapons have
appeared. But war has not changed in one thing. It is suffering it brings.
If you want my opinion then I am sure that I will never fight in a war
if I do not understand the reasons and aims of this war. The only thing I
will fight for is my family. Maybe, you are surprised because I haven’t
said ‘motherland’ but I will not fight for my motherland if I find it’s
politically wrong or not suitable for me.
Besides, what really irritates me is that a lot of important facts are
neglected in our history books and, reading them, you get the impression
that the Second World War for instance was nothing but a set of dates and
battles. This makes the younger generation misunderstand the reality of war
and understand it thoughtlessly.
Finally, let’s hope that there will never ever happen any war and
there will be the time when people will understand all the uselessness of
war.
912 words.
