PEACE!

 

PEACE!

"I hope it's true that really exists

flying saucer

Be an intelligent people P'rá bring p'rá people

Peace and love..."

With these simple verses Palmeira e Biá, a sertaneja duo from São Paulo recorded this beautiful song in 1955.

The beginning of the last century was marked by many military clashes between nations... not much different from what happens in this 21st century...

On July 28, 1914, the great conflict began in Europe that would go down in the annals of history as the War of Wars, and would only end on November 11, 1918. This conflict was centered in Europe, involving the great powers of the around the world, which split into two opposing alliances... the Allies (United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary).... The Central Powers would form the Triple Alliance with Italy, but as Austria-Hungary took the offensive, violating the agreement, Italy ended up not participating in the alliance and switched sides, fighting for the Allies. Alliances reorganized and more nations participated in the conflict. More than seventy million military personnel, including sixty million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the greatest wars in history. More than nine million soldiers lost their lives in this conflict, which was the sixth deadliest in human history...

Twenty-one years after the end of the conflict known today as "World War I", Europe again came to a boil when, on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and France and a good part of the countries of the British Empire declared war. the Germany. Of course, the world already had several conflicts going on, such as Ethiopia against Italy and China against Japan. That is, both yesterday and today, there is always some conflict somewhere on this little planet of ours...

The Second World War ended on September 2, 1945, with the victory of the Allies over Nazi Germany, the main trigger of the conflict, but not the only one. We cannot forget that several conflicts unfolded in parallel with what we consider to be the main one. After all, while Hitler's Nazism was attacking on several fronts, it was supported by Mussolini's Fascism and the invasion of China by the imperialist government of Japan. And it is clear that several other minor events contributed to the conflict going on for so long. And as for the official end of this war... well, it was only in 1990 (45 years after the conflicts mentioned here ended) that the peace agreement with Germany was ratified...

Several conflicts, spread around the world, marked the Twentieth Century. Just to name a few, we have the Russo-Japanese War from 1904 to 1905, the Balkan War from 1912 to 1913 and the Contestado War from 1912 to 1916, these before the First World War... World War II, we had at least three major conflicts, the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1922, the Chaco War, from 1932 to 1935 and the Spanish Civil War, from 1936 to 1939...

Of all the conflicts mentioned, it is clear that Brazil could not be left out. After all, in Brazilian lands there were also several armed uprisings. For the people of São Paulo, without a doubt, the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932, a conflict that lasted a little less than four months, is remarkable in their history... but the Contestado War, which took place on the border of the States of Paraná and Santa Catarina, lasted four years, it was certainly one of the bloodiest conflicts that took place here, like the War of Canudos. As in Canudos, A Guerra do Contestado had its origins in Messianism, although it is clear that the main culprit for it to happen was the State, which as always is not concerned with the welfare of its citizens, but with the profits of the ruling oligarchy . It all started with the expropriation of an area between the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná for the construction of a railroad that would connect the states of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. Small farmers in the region went bankrupt, and squatters who made their living from extracting yerba mate and wood were expelled by the jagunços in the service of the big farmers. When the construction of the Railroad was completed, thousands of workers were laid off, leaving them with no income to survive on... and the fuse of revolt was lit...

We can say that the leader of the people's revolt against the State was the monk José Maria (three religious were named after him, the last being the one who led the group during part of the conflict), killed in combat on October 22, 1912. then succeeded by Maria Rosa, the "Joana D'Arc" of the hinterland...

Of course, the sertanejos ultimately lost the war and their communities were simply razed to the ground by federal forces. after all, it was necessary to maintain law and order. But...

Returning to talk about the world, on October 31 in 1952, the first hydrogen bomb exploded in an experiment carried out by the United States. Its explosion had the force of ten megatons, being 750 times more powerful than the first atomic bombs, with the potential to devastate entire cities....

As the poet said, "instead of making medicine to cure diseases, man uses his genius to create weapons to kill"...

It is sad for us to realize that, even though so much time has passed since these conflicts and the evolution of the weapons used in them, Man has not evolved towards peace, as would be desired. On the contrary, every day he seems to become even more savage, always wanting to take what his brother has... unfortunately few people really think about the welfare of their fellows. Most prefer to stay on the sidelines of events, not realizing that if they don't have a clear position on what is happening around them, they will be swallowed by events... and suddenly, there may be no turning back...

Of course, there are selfless people who give their lives for peace and for their fellow men. And it is thanks to this group that is still small, but that, God willing, will one day manage to grow enough to change the world, that things are changing a little bit every day. It's too little? Yes, of course it is. But it is from grain to grain that the chicken fills the crop, as the ancients said... and, with divine blessing, one day wars will be forgotten and Earth will become Paradise where humanity will finally be able to live in peace, with harmony with nature and with God...

It's 8:56 am on this rainy Wednesday. Right now the thermometers are showing 20ºC, but due to the rain, the thermal sensation is a little cold...

May God provide us with a beautiful and pleasant day and may this be the most beautiful day of all that we have ever lived...