Psychology of war

I was 5 years old the last time our country was involved in a war in the Middle East.

Now, 12 years later, we're faced with a similar situation. But my ideas on life have changed drastically from those I had 12 years ago.

One thing I have come to realize is that psychology is life, and that the psychology of war can have a huge effect on the world. So in a time of war, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you an interesting spin on wartime.

Good and evil are almost impossible words to put definitions on. Even harder still is determining what is good and what is evil.

In fact, in peacetime their definitions are varied and vague.

But in times of war, according to psychologist Lawrence LeShan in his article entitled "In Dubious Battle," "Good and evil are reduced to us and them."

He goes on to explain that in wartime "crucial issues are divided into black and white, and opinions about them are either right or wrong." This is easily apparent today with the way war protesters have been treated.

Those in favor of war accuse the protesters of being unpatriotic.

To me, this seems to be an unfair argument. In reality, these protesters have a variety of reasons for opposing the war, most of which are probably more personal than political.

In President Bush's ultimatum address Monday night, he concluded by emphasizing the statement, "and may God bless America." With this, Bush implied that God was only blessing America.

This parallels another of LeShan's points about the psychology of war. He states in his article that these particular sayings "indicate our belief that the great cosmic forces are behind us." On the other hand, in times of peace, these "great forces of nature E are not often evoked in our disputes."

Communication is another area that changes drastically in wartime.

A few years ago, we could talk to people who disagreed with us. Now, says LeShan, possibly with a hint of sarcasm, "communication is not possible."

Obviously the evil enemy lies, so the problem can only be solved in battle.

The psychology of war also can take a very negative turn.

According to a PBS series, "The Perilous Fight: World War II in Color," the mental aspect of war takes its toll on soldiers. They have been trained and instructed to kill complete strangers. Their friends are dying next to them, and, worst of all, when they come home no one really understands what they went through.

These situations would be regarded as pure evil during peacetime, but in war these actions are justified.

As LeShan put it, "there are startling differences in the ways we perceive reality during wartime compared to peacetime." It is important to take a step back and consider how altered our realities may be during the war.

In most cases, I feel violence is not the answer. Maybe we should have tried harder in the peace negotiations; maybe we should have given the weapons inspectors more time.

But hindsight is 20/20, and nobody has all the answers.

I do know that now that the United States is resigned to war. We must support our troops. We don't want another situation like we had during and after Vietnam.

At this point, though, we cannot predict how the history books will depict the battle between Bush and the United States and Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

In times when right and wrong have taken on complicated meanings, all we can hope is that we are doing the right thing.

Jessica Smallman is a senior at Carson High School. She is writing a regular column for the Nevada Appeal as her senior project.