All's Fair in Love and War

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Today’s society, so focused on defining, coveting, attaining, protecting and fighting for freedom and justice globally, still always seems to fall short. While the majority of American’s would agree that they live in a generally free country, there will always be those who demand even more freedoms. Abraham Lincoln called on poet John Lydgate’s now famous words, succinctly stating, “…you can’t please all the people all the time.” Never has a phrase been truer than in these times. For along with the people’s cries for freedom and justice, they still want to maintain their right to bear arms and freedoms of speech and expression. While each of these things in and of themselves seem harmless and basic, trying to balance them all together gets tricky, and sometimes dangerous. Where does the balance lie to keep the peace and protect our country? Can we really maintain just our own borders and not be concerned with the lands beyond? In Arundhati Roy's "Come September," she recounts atrocities of passing decades, including those against the Palestinians and Japanese, to highlight war's failures, forgetting that in America there is an innate responsibility to do whatever is necessary, including war, to maintain democracy, to ensure freedom and justice within, and to limit the spread of injustice and tyranny to countries unable to fight for themselves.

Roy details the suffering the Palestinian people have endured not only to survive, but to even be recognized as a people. Giving a generalized history of Israel and Palestine, she details conflict and ongoing violence in the pursuit of their homeland. While this is not a battle that America seems to be involved with, it is fairly well known that the United States gives a sign...

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...ther countries affect our own. As the world evolves and grows, there will continue to be conflict, but hopefully along the way there will be more education and all will learn from mistakes of the past. One day we may be able to mutually think outside the box and avoid many conflicts altogether. Until then, the United States must maintain our own democracy, ensure freedom and justice within our own borders, and go beyond those borders when needed to prevent injustices to those countries unable to fend for themselves.

Works Cited

Roy, Arundhati. “Come September.” Reading the World: Ideas that Matter. Ed. Michael Austin.

New York: Norton, 2007. 254-266. Print.

Amnesty International Public Statement. AI Index: MDE 15/033/2005 (Public). News Service

No: 134. 23 May 2005.

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