Nuclear Arms Race

Today is a national holiday, and the retired naval officer across the street is flying his Japanese flag. Fortunately we don't take it too seriously, and I'm not the only other local hanging out my washing in the sun to flutter gaily alongside the flag. Conversation in our home touches briefly on the recently renewed threat of nuclear loaded missiles from North Korea, and how Japan should or could react to protect us from this rogue state on our doorstep. After some kind of preemptive strike, the wind would bring all the radiation across the sea to us anyway...and mind you, we're creating enough of our own with the Fukushima meltdown and the continued governmental insistence on peddling nuclear power. The rationale behind the aggressive posturing is so complex, or perhaps so crazily simple, none of the countries and diplomats including the UN really have any idea how to respond effectively to North Korean continued development of bombs. 

We love to forget that our own governments are all happily upgrading bombs and the like, and our economies make a fortune from trading toys of war. I too am witless. I see parallels in the latest Dragonball Z movies, glorifying hero combat to save the planet, which in the process of course destroys the planet... the combat moves to lonely scenes of nature, virgin forests, rocky deserts and lonely sea cliffs deemed worthy of obliteration, and finally magic higher powers are used to move back time, restore those human settlements obliterated, all is well and safety is preserved for another day. How helpful are the targeted bombs in Syria? The basis for all life is being systematically obliterated by war, disrupted, poisoned, destroyed, water, soil, wildlife, it's not just about humans; and of course there is no magic to wave it all away and restore the balanced beauty of before. For all our pride in our so special and highly developed brains, in our race to destroy, we are the most blind and ignorant species on the planet. 

The dogs sit close by and gently, sweetly, calmly remind us what it is that we should cherish and hold dear for peace: the blue of the sky, the scent of the blossoms, the warmth of their presence, which, however alien to our own, we welcome with love and acceptance to grace our shared lives.