Recca wrote:
Ah, I see. I seem to have misunderstood what you meant and would like to offer my apologises for reacting so harshly. It's been a hard week, but that doesn't explain my actions. I don't hate anyone except for criminals. I follow the code of Bushido (for real)! Those who hurt and kill good, innocent people to increase what they already have or at times, for no real reason at all... I hate the idea of war for profit and other petty trivial matters. The problem with wars is that you don't know if you're killing bad or good people. Some are just defending their country as another person would. It seems that for every politician that wants to help people, there's ten that just want to shove money down their already full and fat pants. Eh, I think I need to take it easy. Always thinking of the world is tiring...
Well, speaking as one who has actually fought in several conflicts, I have come to the conclusion that war is senseless. I have seen people become deranged in war, but really, it may have just brought out qualities and tendencies that already existed in certain people. In other words, war environments enabled some combatants to develop and practice their darkest obsessions.
I'll tell you a story. My team in one assignment during a particular war captured an enemy officer in a remote location. He was traveling with a woman who was probably his wife or lover. Later, our interrogators determined that he was posing as a civilian so he could infiltrate a leaderless guerrilla cell that was operating inside our loosely controlled territory. When we bound the fellow and placed him in the hot sun, the woman rushed forward and tied a piece of cloth over his head and doused it with water from a container she was carrying, then we allowed (ordered) her to continue in the direction she was heading (because we were under orders not to detain unarmed women).
While we were transporting the suspect to a base of operations, one of the people in our unit wanted to abuse him with a rifle butt and fists, but without even thinking about why, I got between the two and stopped it. Later, I gave the fellow water and poured a bit more on his "bandanna".
Years passed before I contemplated this episode as a study in diverse human nature and potential consequences. I watched a scene in Schindler's List the other day that sums up what I believe all citizen-soldiers in America should never forget, what makes most of us different from other professional soldiers throughout history. While Schindler held the lives of the Jews in his camp in his hands, he underwent a complex process over time. First, he preserved the victimized workers so he could be a more efficient war profiteer. Second, he got to know them as people and began to care about them as fellow human beings - and finally - Schindler realized that all wars end, and sometimes, the tables are turned.
Surely enough, at the end of WW-II, agents from the new state of Israel tracked down Nazi war criminals all over the world and brought them to justice. Schindler was not only spared, he planted a tree along the thoroughfare of the righteous - whatever it's called precisely - in Israel. Now, I am not Jewish - and you are not religious - but I will quote a line that the movie claims is from the Talmud. "Whoever preserves one human life, saves the world."
I'm not claiming that I saved the enemy officer's life that day in the boonies, but I know now that was the spirit inside me when I reacted to my teammate's hatred-about-to-turn-violent, specifically, the Holy Spirit, which required decades for me to recognize and fully understand (thanks to Taskforce, BTW).
Surely enough, that war ended, as all wars end. Maybe that fellow survived somehow, found his woman again, and raised a bunch of kids to look after him in his old age. If he ever thinks of that day, maybe he believes I was a soft fool who could be easily defeated face-to-face with both of us armed to the teeth! But maybe, just maybe he doesn't view all of us on that combat team as his sworn enemies. Yes, if he survived, maybe he is teaching his kids to judge people - not nations.
Anyway, after some of what you revealed above, I believe you will enjoy Slayers. The heroine has several mottoes. One of them is, "Bad guys have no human rights"! And, she slays hapless robbers wandering about, just for "something to do". Wacky game! On the other hand, if she "offs" a "bad" monster or especially a Mazoku (a demon from the spirit world), they certainly have no human rights because they're not even human!!
edited: "offer" to "officer" in para. 2