Interception
News x Dreams x Memories
They were either robots or really advanced humans.
The two heavily armoured soldiers from opposing armies stood on either side of the border. Once they were given the go-ahead, they both crossed into each other’s sides and stood with their backs to each other for a second before they picked up pace as they went deeper into enemy territory. Their mission was to use all their weapons and create destruction. If they shot down a civilian, they got 10 points; if they shot a soldier, they got 100 points; and if they blew up an Army truck, they got 1000 points. The points they were accumulating was showing up on their screens.
Aah like a game! This must be a videogame after all!
Along with their own scores - in large fonts - they could also see the opposite soldier’s score in the top right hand corner of the screen in a smaller font size.
The pressure on both these soldiers was to ensure their score stays higher. That is, they must continue to inflict more damage here than what was being done by the enemy soldier in their territory. Whenever they saw the score of the enemy soldier go up, it motivated them to find ways to increase their own scores. The means did not matter as much as the need to maintain a higher score.
How long can they go on? Will this conflict never end?
My thoughts grew louder as this horrifying dream dimmed away. There will be no dearth of soldiers and ammunition - I thought aloud. The weapons are becoming more and more advanced, and capable of causing immense damage. Does that mean there will be no end to wars?
*
It was at the boys-only boarding school that I got to see a fight for the first time. We were all walking from the dormitory towards the breakfast hall when two boys started pushing and shoving each other. It looked playful at first but it got serious because of one abusive word. That boy might have taken that abuse on most days, but that day, he got riled up and banged his steel plate on the other boy’s head. They immediately grabbed each other’s collars and kept hitting each other. They fell down and rolled all over the ground but they just wouldn’t let go. Very soon there was a circle of us boys standing around them. The two boys punched, kicked, spat and even tore each other’s shirts off. Someone’s lip was cut open and the blood had spilled onto his white banian turning it red. But the two of them did not seem be feeling any pain from those wounds. All they wanted was to pin the other boy down and go at him harder.
This is what you’d see in boxing and other combat sports as well. The boxers keep taking blows upon blows on their bodies but hardly even grimace. Maybe the pain signals don’t reach their brains - which is hyper-focused on knocking the opponent down. Just like that video game from my dream, the winner is the one who does more damage.
Back at school, the fight would end as soon as one of the boys stopped hitting back. It was usually because he could not carry on fighting - something would have gone into his eye or he probably got hit in the groin area. The other boy would feel victorious and that’s always the best reason to stop fighting. There is no fun in hitting someone who can’t hit back.
Another way such a fight could be brought to a stop was by applying a greater force. The warden would appear and whack both the boys and enforce his authority or sometimes a group of strong boys would pull these two warring parties away from each other and bring that stupid fight to an end.
*
Coming to the global conflict that is troubling our sleep in faraway corners of the world - there does not seem to be a hostel warden to grab these boys by their ears and pull them away from each other. And those other strong boys that could intervene do not want to risk it either.
So both the sides continue to rain punches with no decisive claim to victory. Neither side wants to let go despite all the damages they suffer every single day because they are both steadfast on knocking the other guy down. That moment of glory is what they seek no matter how badly they are bruised by then.
That other night, as I was still lying in my bed thinking of that dream but not fully out of it, I willed the soldiers to shift focus from their own score to the score of the opposite side. If only they become fully aware of the destruction being done to their own homes - their people, their lands and everything else which makes them feel they belong to it.
Maybe the war could stop, I wondered, if the soldiers realized that the conflict was destroying all that they were fighting to protect.
*
Karl Marlantes is a decorated former soldier of the United States Marine Corps who served in Vietnam and suffered from the aftermath of fighting the war. He later wrote both fiction and non-fiction books based on his experiences. I watched a book discussion where he spoke alongside Vietnamese writer Nguyen Phan Que Mai, the author of ‘The Mountains Sing’ – which traces three generations of a Vietnamese family under foreign occupation and the war. During that talk, these writers explored war through their books and their own lives. At one point during this discussion, Marlantes asks, ‘Who is responsible for war – the kid who shoots or everyone of us who is funding it?’
The soldier is performing his duty but there is an entire economy of war which has political leadership and the Manufacturing sector intertwined in a ghastly manner. And the flames of this union are being fanned by institutions like the Media – News, Films, Socials – which are eagerly promoting the language of revenge over reconciliation.
Marlantes is asking us to recognize this culture of war that we are all part of and sometimes participate in.
These are some questions for us to ponder over -
Is it okay to justify one armed struggle and oppose another?
How can we go beyond violence as a means to resolve conflicts?
Is there any way we can truly stop one war without ending all wars?
Image source: https://dataglossary.wyscout.com/interception/
Karthik, The caption of the image 💔💔💔
Beautiful weave of the personal and the political.