The Power of the Word

The Power of the Word


When thinking of war, what comes to mind? Like most people we probably are thinking guns and soldiers. Nowadays war is use in various situations. A person or country can be having a war against the cancer, war against the drug cartels, or war against terrorism. War is an action taken when a country or person is fighting against someone or something, and can either be won or lost, and the time when it will end is never easy to estimate.

Declaring a war against a disease can be very painful and stressful. Cancer has become a very common disease over the years, and many of the victims insist on declaring a war against it. Fighting cancer is a battle that can be very hard to obtain victory from. This is because 77% of all cancers are diagnosed in people 55 and older (www.cancer.org). In Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea novel, Jean Hoerni the man who gave Mortenson twelve thousand dollars to build the school in Korphe,was informed he was diagnosed with myelofibrosis a fatal form of leukemia (cancer).The disease advanced in Hoerni’s body fast and he was diagnosed with a few months to live. When he was close to passing away Mortenson quotes how Hoerni “was angry about dying” (Mortenson 182), which made me wonder if other victims were angry or disappointed about how soon they had to depart. Hoerni like many other cancer patients have to go through chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy to try to remove the cancerous cells and hopefully defeat the battle. (www.cancer.org). Though this war was officially declared forty years ago by President Richard Nixon we have seen various improvements, however up to this moment there is still no cure for the disease. Instead of President Nixon saying that they were looking for a cure he declared war, which in his point of view meant having groups of scientist seeking for a cure on the opponent (cancer). The cure until this day has not been found, meaning that many still need to fight against this war in order to obtain a victory. It is clearly sought how obtaining victory from a war can never be estimated and can take a very long time.

Violence however is always present when thinking of war. The tought for many always reminds them of violence and weapons, a perfect example of this is the violence that has grown in Mexico, In December of 2006, Mexico's new President Felipe Calderon declared war against the drug cartels, reversing earlier government passiveness. Since then, the government has made some gains, but at a heavy price - gun battles, assassinations, and kidnappings (www.boston.com). Most of the violence has happened close to the borders where of course the cartels need to get through in order to get the drugs in or out the country. Smuggling the drugs in or out has become more difficult for these criminals, driving them to hunt down and kill authority officials along with many innocent people. This has become their way of showing that they want to win the battle, and that they will do anything to obtain victory. Since this war started 17,900 drug-related killings have happened in this country (www.foxnews.com). Though it may seem shocking this number will continue to grow unless the U.S and Mexico find a solution and or compromise with these criminals, nevertheless President Calderon has said that they will keep fighting until victory is theirs, many U.S and Mexican citizens wish the government could see the wake up call, and many feel like the government shouldn’t have announced the war so openly.
Unfortunately different types of wars are being fought daily.

A war that we are all facing at the moment is war against terror or terrorism. This war was declared after the September 11, 2001 attack, where many innocent lives were taken when the world trade center came down by an impact of an airplane that had been taken over by members of Al-Qaeda. President George Bush and his administration declared war on Iraq by invading it claiming Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. This led to the capture of Saddam Hussein who then was executed after being tried in court (www.wikipedia.com). The war became bigger as Al-Qaeda insisted that the U.S stay out of Iraq. We are all facing this war because we all in a way have a contribution to this war from having relatives overseas, to paying taxes. This war like all the others has caused the death of many people. To many this war seems useless, and many have the opinion that we should have never declared war, however to numerous people war seems to be something that can be compromised. For instance many think that the U.S and AL-Qaeda should sit and settle down their problems rather than having this battle that could go on for years. Some have the opinion that Al-Qaeda should hand over Osama Bin Laden if they want U.S troops out their country.

War has always been seen as an act of violence however, war can be done fighting the littlest thing; it does not necessarily have to include guns or violence. War can be fighting the illness we have as well as fighting the thing that terrorizes us the most. War can either be won or lost and can take a few months to a few years. War takes many lives even innocent ones. As time flies by war will always be in play, whether it’s a good one or a bad one it will always be around.