If Bill Gates were a Cathoic, he would be a Saint in the eyes of the Church. I know of no other person, who has given more of his personal time and resources to help the world's most needy. He sets an example that should energize other wealthy individuals to hep those in need.



The only issue I take with the efforts of Bill Gates and other philanthropic minded people, is the issue of stopping the wars that lead to and sustain global conflict, which is one of the greatest contributors to global poverty and suffering.



Each year, more than one trillion dollars is spent on military budgets, which could be much better spent on helping the most needy and on helping societies throughout the world, including millions of Americans.



People throughout the world are facing increasing difficulties in meeting the needs of their families and to cover th educational costs essential to their future survival and prosperity. If the world's richest people focused on creating peaceful solutions to conflict, it would radically change the lives for those most in need and help all members of society who face increasing difficulties in meeting their family needs.



If wars were the solution to conflict, why hasn't it worked over the thousands of years that wars have been used to settle conflicts? If you go back to any major conflict including World War One and Two, there is not a single nation or national leader that would agree that conflict was better than a negotiated peace. Ask every one of the millions of families that lost love ones if war was better than a negotiated solution.



The fact is that sanctions rather than war works. As evident in the South African apartheid situation, or the negotiated agreement on nuclear weapons in Iran, sanctions did work to bring about a solution without war.



The fact is, if the world used punitive and unlimited sanctions to isolate and punish belligerent nations, there would not be a need for war. Even North Korea is dependent on on foreign aid to survive.



If the world's weathiest people were to structure a negotiation process that would impose relentless sanctions in place of conflict and war, it would free up unlimited amounts of money to address the needs of all people throughout the world. It is important for non-government leaders to take up this cause. Political leaders are trapped in a political process that forces them to use the expedient process of going to war to get the desired results in the shortest time. However, as evident in the decades of war in the Middle East and Afghanistan, there is no such thing as a limited war to achieve desired results.



In the past, wars were generally fought with conventional armies, in which there were clear enemies and military targets. Conventional warfare has been replaced with geurrilla warfare, which does not have readily definable targets and enemies. Vietnam is an example of how the United states, the most powerful military nation in the world, supported by many other nations in SEATO, lost a war against a small nation using geurrilla warfare. Similar results have occurred in other Middle East and Asian nations.



The fact is that you cannot bomb ideologies or determination into submission. This was clearly demonstrated in World War Two, where bombing only increased the resolve of the Bristish and German people to carry on the war at all costs. The fact is that war does not work. It has never led to lasting peace and generally creates an environment for the next war, which is what the Treaty of Versailles achieved.



If the world spent a fraction of time negotiating a peaceful solution rather than going to war, the world would be a much better place. However, peaceful negotiations must be a two way street in which all sides must accept compromise. No nation has the solution to the needs of all other societies. Many nations have existed for thousands of years and have deeply embedded cultures, which are not ammenable to quick change. Change takes time, and it can only be achieved withi the culture and history of a given nation. For any outside nation to demand immediate change to an alternate social system simply will not work. In some cases, it may take a generation or two for a nation to evolve into a more democratic system. However, such change is infinitely better than forcing change on governments such as those in the Middle East through war.



Having studied history for most of my 75 years, I have changed from a hawk to a pacifist. There can be no justification for killing millions of innocent people and families to satisfy the needs of other nations. It does not and never will work.



Please choose peace not war.



