I am standing here in front of you because I am afraid. I am afraid of humanity, afraid for humanity. I am afraid of the deception that we call nationalism. I am angry that our fathers declare wars and our sons suffer the inevitable. I am sad to look at the grief-stricken mothers who feel their son’s withered and tormented skin. No matter how loud their screams echo, yet we march proud and determined towards the enemy’s trenches. Is it worth it? I ask you. The millions of souls taken down like pawns in a forgotten chess game? Yes, I am afraid.

What does it take to raise the bleeding flags? To beat the menacing drums of war until the sky engulfs the innocent: Heroism? Patriotism? Unity? The fallacies in our minds have poisoned us, just like power has poisoned the corrupted kings. Haven’t we learned from the battles of Estaires, Waterloo, Saratoga, Yorktown, WW1, WW2 etc, etc, etc? Aren’t we already mad from this deluded fantasy? Unfortunately, we are all driven by inhumane and barbaric desires and as I am standing here, I am terrified. Terrified from the plague spawned from the rotten bodies. I am terrified from the sound of suffocation and then, the roaring silence. I am terrified from the groans of the wounded as their bones are crushed by the rusty chains of the enemy’s tanks. Is it worth it? To fall prey of this disease that has tempted generations after generations? To lie to ourselves that our patriotic duty is the supreme law of our existence? Yes, I am afraid.

We are all survivors of charismatic leaderships and their personal vendettas. We are all victims of the personification of our undeniable failure, and that my people, is war. We are all part of this macabre reality that has sickened us to the point where we embrace conflict, we embrace violence, we embrace destruction. Is it worth it?

Many people have fought against this never-ending deception, but their voices are getting weaker and weaker as time consumes them and their battles. As I am standing here, I beg you to remember the lucid almost unreal dream of soldiers singing silent night when their sky bleeds and soldiers sweat and as I leave this podium, I go into my mind palace and ask the unanswerable question, is it truly worth it? Make time stop for a moment, and think about humanity... for humanity.