"Why I am Obsessed With War" by Harry Browne (f**king brilliant article!)

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Troops don’t sacrifice. Only individuals can sacrifice. For some of them, the sacrifice is a year out of their lives. For others, the sacrifice is in living for a year or more in constant fear and danger.

But for too many, the sacrifice is one’s life. The loss of one’s whole life.

That’s not the same as giving a tenth of your income to the church, or working 15 hours a week in a soup kitchen, or spending a day a week helping out at a nursing home. When you sacrifice your life, you give up everything. The world has ended. What you were no longer exists. No more life, no more love, no more music, no more sports, no more breathing, no more interest in anything.

And when you’ve sacrificed your life, it no longer matters whether Iraq is "liberated" or oppressed, because you don’t exist any more. It no longer matters whether George Bush is a great leader or a megalomaniac, because you no longer have a life with which to be affected by it. You are no more.

George Bush can speak cavalierly about such sacrifices. He can say "freedom is always worth it." He can speak with gratitude about such sacrifices – because he is making no sacrifice whatsoever.

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Yes, I’m obsessed with war.

I’m obsessed with war because I love life.

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