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Guest Column

We humans love to fight and fight to love

By JACK BRAY
Published September 6, 2007

"All you kids do is fight. You love to fight."

My mother often said that when I was a child. She was probably exasperated as she watched her three sons and one daughter screaming at each other.

These days, the news is filled with reports of war, conflict, aggression, insurgency, rebellion, genocide, ethnic cleansing and sectarian violence. And let's not forget all the murder and mayhem in this country and, sadly, in our very own neighborhoods.

Yeah, it seems like fighting is everywhere and has been happening for a long time. (The earliest recorded war was fought in 2700 B.C. Imagine that.)

What is it about us that makes us fight and, well, sometimes seem to love to fight? Why are we wired that way?

Those of us who believe we were created by God must wonder. He told us to love one another, and yet he gave us the capability to hurt one another. Why? I don't know. Unless I missed reading about it, no one really does. But I have a theory.

Think about this. If we never fought, we would, logically, always be kind and charitable toward one another. (I don't know about you, but I can't even imagine that.) Maybe the reason we fight is because the peace that we had was interrupted - taken from us, so to speak - and we are fighting to get it back, whether or not we admit it or even realize it.

Don't scoff. Kindness, charity and love flourish in peace and quiet, not war and noise.

While all that fighting can bring the temporary satisfaction of winning and the short-lived sweetness of revenge, it can also bring the more precious and longer lasting love and understanding. Remember that I said whether we realize it or not.

I believe that, strange as this may sound, love is God's ultimate and hidden purpose for giving us this ability to fight. He does work in mysterious ways.

We love to fight? Yeah, well, call me crazy, but I believe, whether we realize it or not, we fight ... to love.

Jack Bray is a retired broadcasting executive who lives in Dunedin.

[Last modified September 5, 2007, 22:09:44]