What is it Good For? --Kayla Beebout

War is evil, pure and simple.  Humans were not made to kill each other.  The consequences of war are so widespread and so generally awful that there are not many ways one could ever justify it.  However, in some cases, there may not be an alternative.  World War II is an example, I believe.  What Hitler was doing was so obviously wrong that it seemed like war was the only option.  But, at the same time, I would not like to think that it was truly the only option.  If you can’t tell, I don’t know what to think of the subject.  I know that sometimes situations escalate to a point where something has to be done, but is all that loss of life the right answer?  After all, Hitler probably would have kept fighting forever if not for defeats like Stalingrad and Normandy.  How high could the death toll have risen?  I understand that there are things worth fighting for, but is there another way?  If simply taking out Hitler would have resolved the issue, I would not hesitate to say that would have been a better option.  But then take a situation like ISIS in the Middle East.  People in those areas obviously need help, but this time there is no Hitler.  ISIS is a group of people all equally committed to their evil cause, with or without a recognizable leader.  In this case, is there another option?  Or is military action the only way that this can be stopped?  This issue is so convoluted and morally challenging that I don’t know if there is a “right” answer.  In the end, I believe that there are truly some things worth fighting for, and if there is no other alternative, then wars must be fought.  In the end, the words of King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, confirm that there are times that justify it: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens… a time for war and a time for peace.”  I just hope war is the less common of the two.