You can only make peace with yourself

By Lethbridge Herald on June 24, 2025.

Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald

I occasionally while socializing hear people my age or older talk about the so-called “good old days,” when the world wasn’t consumed by conflict, and political powder kegs in one country or another weren’t about to explode.

I actually don’t remember those days because it seems to me the world in my lifetime has always been consumed by one conflict or another.

This week, the attacks on each other by Israel and Iran have caught the world’s attention on top of the riots in Los Angeles and protests across the United States over the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants. And of course, the political assassinations in Minnesota last week are in the news constantly.

These conflicts are on top of the continuing battles between Israel and Hamas and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, not to mention the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

The number of conflicts in the news right now is not new. But thanks to 24-hour access to news on our televisions and phones and newspaper websites, the world is more aware than ever of what’s going on around us. We’re inundated all day and every day with stories of war – stories which are nearly impossible to avoid.

Those who look fondly back to the days of the 1950s,’60s and even into the mid ‘70s are either ignoring or aren’t completely aware of the battles between countries that raged on during those years. And for those who were children in those days, it’s easy to forget all the details. But from the earliest days of rock ‘n roll in the 1950s through the Summer of Love in the 1960s to the disco days of the 1970s, the world was awash in bloodshed. 

After a brief respite following the Second World War, the world faced the Iran crisis of 1946 which actually started near the end of 1945, when Joseph Stalin refused to give up occupied territory. From then on, there has been no peace on Earth as battles have ranged in numerous countries and regions. Among the earliest most well-known ones was the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. Then came the Korean Conflict in 1950, which still technically isn’t over.

The Vietnam War – which many of us kids in the 1960s and ‘70s learned  a lot about through the satire of Mad Magazine – started in 1955 and lasted for 20 years, during which millions died.

And of course, there was the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia years apart, the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion, the Six-Day War in 1967 involving Israel and various Arab countries, and the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey which had special significance to Canada because our military (including my late brother) spent time as peacekeepers there with the United Nations.

Since then, there have been long-running wars and conflicts in Afghanistan, the brief Falklands War, the Persian Gulf War, the wars in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and Herzegovina, not to mention wars in Africa, just to rattle off a few.

Needless to say, peace is a concept that is widely talked about and hoped for but rarely achieved. And that can be said about much of human history, where often the only thing humans have in common with each other is the desire to kill anyone and everyone in the pointless pursuit of power.

Why do innocents need to die because  mankind – make that “men” – insist on killing everyone with different belief systems? It’s a question for the ages and one that is simple to grasp: it’s all about power.

And as long as men seek power and domination, they will kill to achieve their goals if they can’t achieve them through peaceful means, regardless of the cost.

It’s pathetic, isn’t it? But wait, there’s more – just check your phone tonight or tomorrow or the next day, because this isn’t ending.

Better yet, maybe it’s time to turn off the phone once in awhile.