War is Over, if You Want it

Do you know what it takes to stop a war?
Was that John Lennon song "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" just some hippie bullshit pipe dream, with no real meaning? Or is there something more to it?

On closer examination, the phrase "war is over, if you want it" is extremely concrete and practical. So much so that it scares people. What I mean is that when you shun the collective, and "collective opinion," in the willingness to see things as they are, from a more unbiased, unfiltered perspective, you realize that it is only you, an individual, making choices day in and day out, and you are responsible for them all.

What does is take to stop a war?
An individual. That's all. Not tanks, or bombs, or diplomacy. Just one person saying one of the most powerful words on planet. "No."
One individual choosing to NOT pull the trigger.
One person choosing NOT to enlist.
One person choosing to say what no one wants to hear: "This is wrong."
One person really wanting, and not just paying lip service to, PEACE.

When I see my buddy put down his gun and walk away from the battlefield, I am emboldened to do the same. Greatness calls out to greatness. And in some men, it may be already revealed and even present to a great degree, but when the great man, woman or child, thinks, that man, woman, or child's independence calls out to others.

What would happen if all the soldiers refused to pull the trigger?
What would happen if all the people who don't want to pay taxes for wars stopped paying?
What would have happened if the masses of German individuals would have laughed and told tiny little Adolf to take a walk?

Do you know who the most important person in the world is?

It's you.

Take it seriously and laugh in the face of their lifeless lunacy. For in doing so, you become immortal.

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist residing in Niigata, Japan.