War Flicks

I just got done watching Black Hawk Down. This is the first time I’ve actually seen this all the way through. One of my favorite genres of movies to watch is war movies. Despite their sometimes overused or poorly written plot lines they are highly entertaining. For a while now however, when I watch them they engrain even harder into my consciousness the futility of war and violence. Despite their efforts to glorify and idealize war and stir within the viewer a sense of pride and patriotism they seem to produce in me more of either a sadness or a frustration, depending on the occasion I watch it. My name on MSN right now is a quote by Gandhi; it says: I object to violence because when it appears to do good the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent. This quote really resonates with me. War and violence only produces more war and violence. War is fueled by hate. How can we ever hope to extinguish that hate by performing acts that just engrain that hate deeper with people on both sides of the conflict? I have heard a few people say lately that war is inevitable until Jesus comes back. I would have to probably agree with that. There will also always be sin, and death and injustice. That does not mean we should or need to allow or tolerate these things. If I type much more on this topic at the moment I would probably work myself up to a level of frustration where I would start rambling and this post would end up several pages of incoherency. I would really value comments from people from both viewpoints on these things. Please don’t be afraid of making me angry by leaving comments that disagree with me.