Reason & Concern

Ronquillo C. Tolentino

The Essence of War Is Violence

When I was in the grades, I chanced to read a German proverb which states, thus : “A great war leaves a country with three armies- an army of cripples, an army of mourners and an army of thieves.”

The Zamboanga conflict is in itself a war. The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is a stranger. Knowing the consequences of war, I adhere to Cicero’s declaration of preference to the most unfair  peace  to the most righteous war.

Martin Luther said that war is the greatest plaque that can afflict humanity. War destroys religion and  family. Any scourge is preferable to it, Luther asserts. I well remember Shakespeare in Henry VI, Act V, Sc. 2 when he declares: “ O war ! Thou son of Hell.”

In our time, we still hope and pray for the statement of Isaiah 11:4 of  beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruninghooks. Also, that the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. (Isaiah XI,6).

Machiavelli has this to say about war:” War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier, if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel.

As I had repeatedly said, the Philippine government should exhaust all peaceful means to end the conflict in Mindanao. It should be a settlement that should not be open-ended.
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As I write this, my mind raced back to a Philippine Daily Inquirer September 30, 2013 headline regarding the protest of writers and scholars on the alleged downgrading by the Department of Education of literature curriculum.

It would appear that certain DepED functionaries are behind the downscaling  of literature in the “K to 12” program. Simply put, the subject of protest is the downgrading of two core subjects in Grades 11 and 12 by combining the 21st Century Regional Literature and World Literature into one.

It is alleged that the functionaries made the decision sans consultation with literature and humanities teachers and scholars, inclusive of  education planners. It is even stated that the memorandum of Education Secretary Armin Luistro has been overruled by the education functionaries.

We need not belabor the importance of literature in the “K to 12” program.

High school students before and now probably would remember that quotation of literature being an expression in words of life, truth and  beauty. As succinctly stated by the British scholar and novelist, C.S. Lewis “Literature adds to reality, it does simply described. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” /MP