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I hope and pray the wars continue to dwindle and become smaller. But I also hope people _feel_ the effects of wars. If wars are painless for us, save for the few who lose loved ones, then it becomes so easy to ignore just how terrible they are.
This is no progress at all. Instead, we've gotten to the point where we can maintain any number of flashpoints we like, at any time, with any amount of media coverage desired, and all without ever having to have a useful policy discussion about it with our citizens.
The thing about the large wars of the past? After a while the citizenry lost their taste for it, because it cost them directly. Our current state of affairs is, sadly, not evolving in that direction.
I by no means am saying things are perfect, but if you can't see progress in this chart than you're holding your hands over your eyes:
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It's Maslow's hierarchy of needs man. We're doing a hell of a lot better on the bottom level of the pyramid. It's gonna take some time to work it's way up to the top.
Whenever my dad or grandparents would talk about war, they'd always mention how less involved our current wars are.
During those wars, it was an all-out effort on the homefront and you were constantly reminded that you were under attack.
It's crazy how shut-off we are from current conflicts because of 1) the scale, and 2) the distance. Even though the news _constantly_ reported on the Iraq War and the conflicts over in the Middle East, it wasn't something I thought about while I was growing up.
I wonder how much more respect our soldiers would see, and how less willing we'd be to go to war if we actually felt impacts day-to-day. (E.g., rationing, everybody knowing somebody overseas, women taking over factories, etc.)