Dropping the Knife

 One of my favourite scenes from Lord of the Rings, is where Gandalf requests that he enter Theoden's Hall with his staff. It was actually a powerful, magical staff, but when questioned to hand over his staff, he asked the guard, 'You wouldn't part an old man with his walking stick?' In this way, he worked way into the hall, with an unknown advantage. He happened to be a force for good, however we have seen when people use similar concepts to smuggle weapons of terror for example, into public spaces, creating an unfair advantage, and killing civilians. What is the deal with this situation? If you asked a terrorist to have a 'fair fight' they may walk away, and try something else another time. In a similar way, using high technology weapons to wipe out thousands of civilians, there is an unfair advantage at play. Let's break down the dynamics of what we call 'escalation' and see how we can avoid it where possible in simpler interactions.

The Adult Playground

Let's take a scenario where there are ten people on an island. There is one rule - only the last person standing will be allowed to live. If the island consisted of only grass fields, then one would assume that the one who has the best ability to kill the others using their body alone in fighting, would win. They would simply eat and train, and learn to fight properly, and the strongest would survive. Now, imagine in this situation, we introduce some simple crops, and then introduce a person who sells knives. One person sells the crops and buys a knife. What can the others do to survive? It is in the knife owners interest to kill them all. Kill, or be killed. How can you kill someone with a knife? Try to win through disarming them? What if they are more skilled? Wouldn't it help to have a knife? Even as a deterrent? Sure it would. One person getting a knife, puts pressure on the others to also have an equivalent or greater weapon. Now, add in a gun to the equation. It forces others to have guns or higher weapons. Escalate this further, and you simply get to the situation that exists today with nuclear weapons. The principle is that of escalation which is the same in the playground of today with knives, as it is in the world scene.

Is it already out??

We may frown on the example of nuclear weapons thinking it is very distant from our lives etc, however almost all of us are victims of a similar kind of escalation. When the first 'complication' is bought in, for example the knife in the story above, it puts pressure on others. This is exactly the same thing that happens when a new technology is released. It puts an upward pressure to consume, this is basically mass consumerism. We should be conscious whilst using some of these things, that whilst they may be useful, they are absolutely not necessities, and when we go on a nice beach break with sand, sea and coconuts, we are starkly reminded of this truth, and indeed like being reminded of it! Secondly, we should understand that if everyone dropped the knives, so to speak, many of the problems of the world, would simply disappear through simplification. However the problem is that no one will dare to drop their knife even though no one really likes holding on to it. The only way to solve the problem, is certainly not through the current generation, it is through the up and coming generations, who can be educated more holistically, and in fact we see this in glimpses sometimes in the way children question the sustainability of the way we are using the planet. We may not have the appetite or readiness to change overnight, even though this is absolutely possible logically speaking, however this change can certainly take place, carefully over time. So, let's be more conscious in the ways we invest, in the ways we interact, and in the ways we essentially grow.