Why Men Fight
In my historical novel, Sunflowers Undedr Fire, I write about the time my grandfather decided to fight for the Tsar’s army in the Great War. My grandfather told my grandmother “I promised the Tsar”. Is that why my grandfather wanted to fight? Out of patriotic duty? My grandmother replied, “What about me and the children? You promised me first.” My grandmother wasn’t buying his reason, despite the fact the Germans and Austrians were threatening to invade. She was wondering how she’d manage without him. How would she be able to protect her six children when the enemy came?
Recently, a friend said his son went to Afghanistan to fight as it was an extreme sport. For his son, there was risk, danger, and a chance to test oneself. Back home in Canada, he may have played video games where the blood wasn’t real and his best friend didn’t get shot beside him.
And lately, we’ve been bombarded with news of uprisings in the middle east. In Libya, the men are dealing with a madman. They want to escape the life-sucking rules of a dictatorship or an execution for speaking up. Fear is a motivating factor. Fear for one’s safety is as old as the caveman when it comes to defending oneself against the enemy.
And yet, we also fight out of love. Love for country, love for our fellow man, and love for our families. To keep those we love safe from harm. Years back, I visited Gallipoli, where the Aussies and Kiwis fought the Turks in World War I. It was a horrendous battle, where far too many valiant men on both sides lost their lives due to suicidal military orders. On the beach there, I found a heart-shaped stone. It gave me hope somehow. It gave me hope that these men who fought in the past, and the ones who are fighting today are not dying or being maimed in vain. Somehow, we have to learn how to get along and deal with the bullies in the world, before they get out of hand.
Yes, Diana, absolutely.