Walk softly and carry a big stick.
Such is (or was) the motto of british foreign policy since its inception. A soft walk allows for steady aim and a big stick allows for heavy impact. Both are necessary preconditions therefore for the successful completion of almost any fight, physical and mental.
However, the physical impact in a fight is generally terminal and can be mended through common remedies. The mental dimension of a fight now, is much more complex. For others, seeing your big stick creates a lasting impression on your neighbours, and recent or supressed memories and states of mind will decide the conclusions they draw from witnessing your might. Some might choose adversity, while others strive for positive relationships.
In any case, your actions and non-actions leave marks on the others. Marks that can help and marks that can hurt, what matters is that they are marks to be factored in, in every decision you take. One neighbour with too big a stick is enough to make the neighbourhood erupt in war. Mister Big Stick's close friends profit from their relationship, by simply pointing to him, whenever another neighbour who isn't friends with the man himself is giving his friends a hard time. Fair? Surely not. After all, it doesn't seem fair that the villager's milk man gets cheaper bread just because he is friends with the guy who found the biggest stick in the region. Everyone else who isn't his friend pays more for the same bread? Sounds like extortion. This gives the others who aren't "in the club" a reason to fear the club and strive to form their own alternative to balance the exceeding power of some individuals. The biggest stickholder will see it as an unspeakable evil forming an unholy alliance simply to destroy them and their stick-wielding freedoms. This reaction gives them incentive and reason to sow mistrust amongst the supposed members of this new club, working freely from the principle of "divide et impera". Conflict arises.
Dear Reader,
I underestimated the scope of my imagination before starting this Story here, and have therefore decided to break up this topic that flies through my mind into multiple parts. The general topic is "War and the Human Element" and it will stride across bits of psychology, biology and general technology, but mostly will it dabble in pseudo-philosophy.
The author thanks you for your time and will be hard at work on the coming parts!
