Why The War Don't Scare Me

Things happen.
Things happen all the time.
Things happen as a result of anger, fear, hatred, love, concern, grief, stupidity, wisdom, knowledge, nature and I think the list goes on.
By things, I mean mostly horrible things. A VA Tech rampage, a 9/11, a Pearl Harbor. Shockingly horrible things happen all the time for many different reasons. In fact they seem to space themselves out nicely as if to remind us every so often that they do happen. Every approximately 5-50 years another shockingly horrible thing happens. The more severe, the more time in between. As a result of a real lack of research and my being a stereotypical American I am going to use only American examples. 50+ years between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 (I think you will see the similarity). 35-45 years between the Vietman War and the Iraqi (middle eastern)Wars. 5-10 years between Columbine and VA Tech. 1-2 years between the Indian Ocean Tsunami (okay not really American) and hurricane Katrina. A few hours to a day or so between car bombings, suicidal or otherwise (again not really American).
I offer no solution or place blame, I just want to point out that these things happen and will continue to happen out of no fault of our own.
The most obvious example is the natural disasters. The Tsunami and Katrina are most out of our control and give us a good starting point for proving my point. The Tsunami is quite out-of-our-control as we cannot assume to solve the problem of plate tectonics. Hurricane strength is recently said to be as a result of the global warming trend, however I think we will find that even though human responsibility for this is evident, nature is more in control than we assume.
The human element enters mostly in the event of war. The recent history of the United States, almost a century's worth, lays claim to about 10 wars at varying degrees, about 1 every 10 years. Causes for these wars have ranged from idealistically and politically charged to devistatingly instigated. Yet they are always govermentally or nationally and idealistically executed. The individual has no real choice or effect. Individuals are merely tools used to either support or oppose wars like varying degrees of moisture surrounding a hurricane. Opposing spiritual or political ideals are a natural albeit human occurence. Whether it is a nationalisitically charged holocaust or a capitalistic "freedom" campaign or an islamic jihad, it is out-of-our-control. Whether we correct them or take the path of moral rectitude is merely a result.
Columbine and VA Tech represent the very human element. This element is where the individual becomes most involved. As the motivation turns to mental stability vs. societal implications, two seemingly controllable aspects, the solution remains society's control over the individual. Again, another lost cause for what happens as a result of anger, fear, hatred, love, concern, grief, stupidity, wisdom, knowledge, nature, etc... We are just as out-of-control of what happens inside as we are of what happens globally. And by out-of-control, I don't mean that we should give up and not try to fight global warming or not offer therapy to a tortured soul. I just mean that these things are going to happen whether or not we make laws controlling guns or drugs or strengthen our levies or boost our warning level status.
So, fear not! The odds of an individual being directly effected by things-that-happen is in direct relation to the proximity of that individual to those things. If you are a soldier in Iraq you might want to be on your guard. If you work in a building that houses information about global economic trade you might want to be very familiar with the fire exit strategy. And now, yes, if you live on a college campus you might want to carry a gun or at least be friendly to the weird guy.
I feel lucky, however, because the war don't scare me. I live in one of the safest countries in the world. A country in which a very small percentage of people die as a result of horrible-things-that-happen compared to the rest of the world. And even though I am not sure why that is, I feel lucky.