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fandomhigh2008-04-03 10:29 pm
konoha-flash.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2008-04-03 10:29 pm
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My Country - Friday April 4th - 3rd Period
"Good Morning everyone! Sorry about last week, there was a minor wee tiny fox emergency and I wasn't about to get out of the house." Unless it had been in some of Wade's clothes and that just wasn't gonna happen.
"Today we're talking about War. It's something that just about every country will have to face in their history. Just like before I've asked Nate to come and speak with everyone and he and I will have different opinions on how we each viewed things in our own countries. Nate?" Arashi looked over and motioned to the larger man to step forward again while he sat on his desk.
"What we are talking about today, then, is the concept of war-- of armies. I am a soldier; my people and I fought a war for thirty years: to survive, to make things better." Cable scraped his throat, his hands tangling behind his back. "I am a soldier who has seen many wars; and war is something to be avoided, if at all possible. Sometimes, though... a show of force might be needed to nudge things in the right direction. But it should never, ever be your first, or your second, or even your third choice. Consider the consequences: the basic concept of war concerns not what's best for the people, but rather, the survival of the strongest. The smartest. The fittest. That is not a principle to build a nation on: it must remain a resort, if nothing else, to be turned to only when it is absolutely and fundamentally necessary-- in the aim of preventing more wars from occuring.
"Sometimes, however, it can't be avoided-- you have to pick up arms. There's a threat you can't ward off by diplomatic means. You are primarily responsible for your people-- for their basic needs. They need to be fed. They need a place to sleep. They need to be armed. They also need to know that someone is taking care of them, that there's a plan-- morale." He let his gaze skip around the classroom before continuing.
"They need to know that there is a leader. That someone will make the tough calls, and keep the boat going. Because that is the essence of what leading a nation is about: to be responsible, to make the difficult decisions that might go against personal sentiment, to do whatever you can for your people, at the behest of everything else. When you call yourself a leader, you take upon yourself the weight of responsibility for all. Leading an army is no different.
"Whether you keep a conscript army-- easily comparable to keeping your finger on the trigger of a gun-- or draft-- which might cause some waves amongst the people or some other form of army... these principles always go. The most important thing to remember is to never turn to using an army unless all other channels have been exhausted. Do what you have to do, but only if you are sure you have to do it. Only for a worthy cause." He took a breath. "And no extreme, lofty as it might seem, is ever a worthy cause if it wastes human life when talk or compromise could have sufficed. Your soldiers are your people, too. It works both ways. What you decide reflects on them all."
He scratched the back of his head. "That being said-- it can come in handy to be armed."
Which was only a mild understatement, as far as Cable was concerned.
And to Arashi as well. He shuddered at the thought that the two of them might think a like.
"Something that Nate didn't mention was getting a voluntary army where the members joining of their own free will. There is the advantage that you're not sending people out to fight who do not wish to, but the downside is that you might not have enough volunteers to form a suitable fighting force. If you do have enough volunteers however, a volunteer fighting force can often times be some of the best to have on your side since there a fewer hard feelings between the soldiers and their leaders."
"But that again is only if War is unavoidable, there are other ways to work things out besides fighting, they just sadly don't always work out," Arashi shrugged having seen it enough times with his own eyes. "Now Does anyone have any questions?"
[OCD is up!]
"Today we're talking about War. It's something that just about every country will have to face in their history. Just like before I've asked Nate to come and speak with everyone and he and I will have different opinions on how we each viewed things in our own countries. Nate?" Arashi looked over and motioned to the larger man to step forward again while he sat on his desk.
"What we are talking about today, then, is the concept of war-- of armies. I am a soldier; my people and I fought a war for thirty years: to survive, to make things better." Cable scraped his throat, his hands tangling behind his back. "I am a soldier who has seen many wars; and war is something to be avoided, if at all possible. Sometimes, though... a show of force might be needed to nudge things in the right direction. But it should never, ever be your first, or your second, or even your third choice. Consider the consequences: the basic concept of war concerns not what's best for the people, but rather, the survival of the strongest. The smartest. The fittest. That is not a principle to build a nation on: it must remain a resort, if nothing else, to be turned to only when it is absolutely and fundamentally necessary-- in the aim of preventing more wars from occuring.
"Sometimes, however, it can't be avoided-- you have to pick up arms. There's a threat you can't ward off by diplomatic means. You are primarily responsible for your people-- for their basic needs. They need to be fed. They need a place to sleep. They need to be armed. They also need to know that someone is taking care of them, that there's a plan-- morale." He let his gaze skip around the classroom before continuing.
"They need to know that there is a leader. That someone will make the tough calls, and keep the boat going. Because that is the essence of what leading a nation is about: to be responsible, to make the difficult decisions that might go against personal sentiment, to do whatever you can for your people, at the behest of everything else. When you call yourself a leader, you take upon yourself the weight of responsibility for all. Leading an army is no different.
"Whether you keep a conscript army-- easily comparable to keeping your finger on the trigger of a gun-- or draft-- which might cause some waves amongst the people or some other form of army... these principles always go. The most important thing to remember is to never turn to using an army unless all other channels have been exhausted. Do what you have to do, but only if you are sure you have to do it. Only for a worthy cause." He took a breath. "And no extreme, lofty as it might seem, is ever a worthy cause if it wastes human life when talk or compromise could have sufficed. Your soldiers are your people, too. It works both ways. What you decide reflects on them all."
He scratched the back of his head. "That being said-- it can come in handy to be armed."
Which was only a mild understatement, as far as Cable was concerned.
And to Arashi as well. He shuddered at the thought that the two of them might think a like.
"Something that Nate didn't mention was getting a voluntary army where the members joining of their own free will. There is the advantage that you're not sending people out to fight who do not wish to, but the downside is that you might not have enough volunteers to form a suitable fighting force. If you do have enough volunteers however, a volunteer fighting force can often times be some of the best to have on your side since there a fewer hard feelings between the soldiers and their leaders."
"But that again is only if War is unavoidable, there are other ways to work things out besides fighting, they just sadly don't always work out," Arashi shrugged having seen it enough times with his own eyes. "Now Does anyone have any questions?"
[OCD is up!]
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