The year was 1965.

Barry McGuire had just released an anti-war song, “Eve of Destruction,” which opened up with these words:

“The Eastern world, it is explodin’

“Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’

“You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’

“You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’?

“And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’

“But you tell me

“Over and over and over again, my friend

“How you don’t believe

“We’re on the eve of destruction”

Now, 58 years later, have the people of the world learned nothing?

I was in my teens in the late 1960s and early 70s. The Vietnam War was raging in futility. American soldiers were dying by the thousands and Americans were screaming.

Today, not only is Russia fighting Ukraine and Israel fighting Hamas, there are 32 other wars going on in our world right now. We had hoped by now we would have learned to be a civilized society.

There were a lot of musicians back in the day warning us about the insanity of war. Edwin Starr, of Motown fame, sang “War,” which you may remember by the lyrics;

“War, huh, yeah

“What is it good for?

“Absolutely nothing, uhh

“War, I despise

“‘Cause it means destruction of innocent lives

“War means tears to thousands of mother’s eyes

“When their sons go off to fight

“And lose their lives”

And who can ever forget John Lennon’s “Imagine”:

“Imagine there’s no countries

“It isn’t hard to do

“Nothing to kill or die for

“And no religion, too

“Imagine all the people

“Livin’ life in peace

“You may say I’m a dreamer

“But I’m not the only one

“I hope someday you’ll join us

“And the world will be as one”

Why do we go to war in the first place?

There is terrorist insurgency, political unrest, civil wars, ethnic violence, drug wars, and, of course, religious wars. Then you can add greed, power, expansionism, and hate and evil. Right now, more than 200,000 people a year are dying in warring countries, with far too many innocent civilians included in that number.

What in Hell is wrong with us?

We are living in angry times, with little to no light in sight. We have had two world wars, both dubbed the “war to end all wars,” and, still, the world spends nearly $3 trillion a year building up their militaries.

I am old and naive. I bought into the anti-war protest songs of my youth. I thought their messages were strong, poignant, truthful, and believed they would be effective in helping us understand that there must be a better way.

I was wrong.

We were wrong.

The world is wrong.

I recently read a story on Alan Shepard, America’s first astronaut. Years later, he was included on a moon mission and witnessed the entirety of Earth out his module window. He said, “I realized up there that our planet is not infinite. It’s fragile. That may not be obvious to a lot of folks, and it’s tough that people are fighting each other here on Earth instead of trying to get together and live on this planet. We look pretty vulnerable in the darkness of space.”

Shepard was right. I can only imagine what his view out that window was, a beautiful blue marble, all alone floating through time, covered with what must look like a thousand ants fighting over a breadcrumb.

Folks, our world population has grown from 1 billion people in 1800 to 8 billion people now, and it continues to grow at about 83 million more people a year. We’ll add nearly another billion people in the next 10 years. Our world has too many daunting challenges ahead of us to be wasting our people, our money, and our resources fighting over insignificant breadcrumbs instead of focusing on how we can provide energy, food, water to all of us stuck here together on Earth.

When will we learn?

Bob Dylan gave us a hint in his song, “Blowing in the Wind.”

He sang;

“Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly

“Before they’re forever banned?

“The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

“The answer is blowin’ in the wind”

Edwin Starr ended his song “War” with this;

“It ain’t nothing but a heart-breaker

“(War) Friend only to the undertaker

“Oh, war it’s an enemy to all mankind

“The thought of war blows my mind

“Peace, love and understanding, tell me

“Is there no place for them today?

“They say we must fight to keep our freedom

“But Lord knows there’s got to be a better way

“War (whoa), huh (oh Lord)

“What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing”

“Civilized” can be described as “an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached.”

Do we live in a civilized world?

We weren’t right about everything in the 60s and 70s, but we were right about one thing: Our world needs a whole lot more of peace and love.

How long until we become “civilized”?

Share your thoughts with me at gregawtry@awtry.com.

Greg Awtry is the former publisher of the Scottsbluff (Neb.) Star-Herald and Nebraska’s York News-Times. He is now retired and living in Hubbard Lake. Greg can be contacted at gregawtry@awtry.com.