Peace is the anomaly

They think that because we are young, we don't know that war is imminent.

But, we feel our mothers hold us extra long in warm embraces; as we do the wetness of their tears on our cheeks because they know they cannot protect us from what will be.

We hear the fierce whispers in the night when we are thought asleep.

We are invisible, as the young often are, but we see the Elders, ours and the others, each trying to stand taller than the next, though all are stooped, backs bent under the weight of accumulated interests they have pursued for far too long; each vying to be louder than the other, as if a booming voice alone will demonstrate their power and worth.

Our games train us for the battles that await.

Our songs glorify those who fought before us-- sometimes for causes, ideals, beliefs no longer held.

Teacher says war comes when words become empty.

Or when leaders seek to distract those within their grip from empty bellies (or pockets).

Or when minds are empty and easily distracted by said leaders from more pressing issues in their own village.

The goals of those that lead, couched as they are in the interest of the moment (inherently not unlike those that came before), seem valid to the already convinced. Not so to those who long for an entirely new plot, not just a tweak, a twist, a variation on an endless theme.

The results, however, are predictable, always the same: death and destruction.

Teacher says the question, is never "will there be war, " but rather, "when will there be war."

They think we don't know, but we do.