Whether or not you support the idea of going to war with North Korea, and whether or not you believe that we are indeed entering a third World War, stop and think for a moment the ways in which our lives could change within the next few days, weeks, months, or years.
We've all been alive for the war in Afghanistan. We've all seen or at least heard of the implications that fighting had on families and individuals. However, it is no longer commonplace to understand the severity that a World War had on the hundreds of societies across the globe. Millenials are taking their very first steps, albeit guided by President Trump and his cabinet, into an unknown territory known as the possible World War III.
High school English literature classes could only teach our generation so much about the horrific tragedies of World Wars I and II. A Farewell to Arms and A Separate Peace can only do so much to provide us with a glimpse into the realities that once were. While it may be one of those situations that we'll never understand without experiencing it ourselves, it's not something that necessarily should be experienced again; Take a visit to the United States Holocaust Museum, ask any veteran or talk to their families. Words can only convey so much, but their emotion will show so much more. Nobody deserves to live with the painful memories.
For the college-aged millennial, there is so much to do and so little time already. Some want to travel, others want to go on to attend graduate school. We want to pay off our student loans and we want to experience the things in life that make it worth living. The four years spent in school already go by so fast, with not enough time for doing everything we hope to accomplish. After college, we have a lifetime to achieve our goals.
But how much will this "lifetime of dreams" be cut short with a World War III?
It's true that those who went head-first into World War I didn't know what they were getting into; nobody was prepared for the austerity of this war. War was no longer glorious or patriotic, rather, it was grim and empty.
It's true that World War II was the deadliest conflict in humanity's history. Armies were decimated alongside innocent civilians, undeserving of the merciless pain caused by governments and warfare.
As the new generation who has been warned through literature, images, and word-of-mouth, do we really need to repeat these memories?
There are, more likely than not, individuals who favorably support the war effort against North Korea. Whether or not it actually happens is a different story. However, all I ask is to question yourself: Is the hatred, the vexation, or the anger truly worth yet another wave of mass human suffering?
