I personally believe this is a question that has plagued many for centuries. “Why do people fight?” Why do we covet the resources of neighboring countries? Why is that that Christians, Jews and all the thousands of set ideologies can’t just get along? Why even go so global.
Why is it that our differences, even within our own personal relationships, seem to create friction that ultimately leads to more fighting. Not an easy question answer this is true, but it is a very good question to ponder.
Life sometimes presents “unanswerable questions” which leads us to ponder day in and day out and in some cases, centuries, without ever coming to a conclusion. We think we might find the answer and then suddenly humanity finds another way to take you back to square one.
Some people argue it is a nature versus nurture debate but then again, they are still arguing which ultimately leads to more fighting. Even in trying to find the answer to the question we might come face to face with some human conflict whether it is something as small as discussing where to eat, or whether you are going to place economic sanctions on Iran for not playing ball with the “rest of the Free countries”.
Conflict seems to be hardwired to our souls. We cannot help to take offense for the insignificant and we cannot help hate what we don’t understand. Some of us attempt to break free from these paradigms that act as shackles to our beings, but most of us find ourselves at war with something all the time.
But not all conflict is bad either. At times you need conflict to form character. You need hard times make you stronger like bootcamp for the soul. Similar to the entire “good stress and bad stress” we also have “good conflict and bad conflict”
Good Conflict
Good conflict in my opinion are problems that arise when you attempt to do something significant. For instance; you want to learn to play the guitar but never find the time or the money or even have a guitar. All of this conflict standing between you and your goal will ultimately teach you the necessary skills to get the job done. These skills can also be applied in other aspects of your life.
Bad Conflict
This category of conflict would be the little things. Fights with neighbors over music, relationship matters, fighting for resources, racism, sexism, every other ism in the book and so on. The majority of conflict is bad conflict. It’s conflict that doesn’t need to happen because it doesn’t benefit anyone really.
You might think that by fighting for resources and by winning that you have gained the upper hand only to find that now you have 10 pissed off enemies with a lot money and nothing to lose. You become paranoid and start doing drastic things like groping innocent people, inspiring fear into the masses and ultimately becoming the very thing you fear.
While I don’t know the answer to the question; “Why do people fight?” I do know that I will continue to ponder it till the end of my days. What do you guys think?
Although I’m not a die-hard follower,I think that Nietzsche explained it best in Beyond Good and Evil. In summary of what he describes as “the will to power”, he says that everyone is basically their own creature at heart, but fall into a much larger category of people for the most part. Human nature is defined by the tendency to either desire to maintain dominion over others or to follow those in authority. In either case, individuals within the whole may some share common interests but their inborn thirst for “power”, as it is, and it has 2 effects: it unites by necessity and divides by opinion. As unfortunate as it is, it seems that we are all born to disagree, just like all the little animals in Darwin’s book.
Although I’m not a die-hard follower,I think that Nietzsche explained it best in Beyond Good and Evil. In summary of what he describes as “the will to power”, he says that everyone is basically their own creature at heart, but fall into a much larger category of people for the most part. Human nature is defined by the tendency to either desire to maintain dominion over others or to follow those in authority. In either case, individuals within the whole may some share common interests but their inborn thirst for “power”, as it is, and it has 2 effects: it unites by necessity and divides by opinion. As unfortunate as it is, it seems that we are all born to disagree, just like all the little animals in Darwin’s book.