We must keep our guards up

Whenever I hear someone say they yearn for world peace, I think how nice that would be.  It would be nice if everything was all hunky dory. On the other hand, I cringe, because I know that there are evil, wicked people out there waiting for a chance when we have our guards down.  In other words, there will never be world peace, there will always be bad guys, and we must always be vigilant and prepared in order to keep the peace.

Let's take it off the world stage a moment and just think of life at your hospital.  Say you have a boss, and this boss is completely isolated from what RTs and RNs do on the patient care floors (which is usually how it is).  That boss spends all his time at meetings, or in his cozy office.  After years of working like this, he becomes not completely, mostly oblivious to the daily workings of a hospital.

In this extreme example, this boss will be in denial that some of his policies do not work.  He will be in utter denial that there is burnout at his hospital.  He will be completely removed from the inner conflict among nurses and respiratory therapists, and he will not be aware of the ongoing conflict between Peter and Paul, and between Jane and Ida.  He will not see any of that, and so he will have his guards completely down.  To make matters worse, none of the workers will say anything to him out of fear of criticism. 

So what happens then?  The place goes totally awry.  While smiling at this boss, Jane and Peter have their fingers crossed behind their backs.  They are stealing pops from the kitchen, and they are stealing nebulizers to take home to their kids.  They are opening nasal cannulas and leaving them to waste in the open air.  They are doing their jobs, and then sitting in front of computers playing on the Internet.  They are only doing what is needed to get by.  Why not?  The boss isn't paying attention.

And, whether that boss believes it or not, this conflict exists.  The only way this boss will be able to stave it off will be to admit that it is a problem.  It's like the alcoholic: he must admit there is a problem within himself in order to defeat it.  If the boss wants to create peace and order within the hospital, he must be aware that there are and always will be conflict.  He must not only be aware of it, but create methods of solving these problems.  He must build rules and he must find ways of making people want to obey these rules.

There is an id in all of us that yearns to come out, and by being aware of it we each learn to keep this id in check.  Sure you may want to beat the crap out of your boss on some days, but you don't.  You don't because you put defenses up within yourself, and you are vigilant.  In the same way, there will always be wicked and evil people around you, people who constantly try to take away your joy and happiness, be it someone as simple as your boss, or a terrorist.  In order to protect yourself from them, you are vigilant and defensive.  In this way, you are able to enjoy life.

Yet the moment you take your guard down, what happens?  Someone has the opportunity to take advantage of this.  For example, the moment you walk into a store and leave your wallet or purse unattended because you think there are no bad guys to worry about, that evil, wicked person snatches it.

It's the same way on the national stage.  There are evil wicket people who do not want us to be free, and who do not want us to worship material items. They want us to all to be like them: unhappy.  They will fight to the day they die to destroy us.  They are terrorists sure, but they are also killers, rapers, kidnappers, robbers, etc.

If we are aware of them, we can keep them in check.  But we can't necessarily do this on our own because of the scope of their existence.  So we must rely on our leaders to do this for us.  This, in essence, is the purpose our our military and police force.  Their job is to protect and defend our freedom from thugs and dictators and terrorists pent on destroying us.

Like the id within our minds, and like the Janes and Pauls who will always be unhappy, there will always be thugs, dictators, and terrorists pent on destroying us at any opportunity they get.  The only way we can stop them, the only way we get to keep what we have, is to be aware that they are there, and to allow and encourage our nation to keep be vigilant and keep up a strong and mighty national defense.

Sorry, but it's true.  The only way we can have peace is to know there are those who are the antithesis of peace.  In order to have peace in our own minds, in our own lives, in our own nations, we must be aware of the fact that there will never be world peace.  We should always strive for it, but we must be wise that it will never be there. This is the only way we can keep these evil, wicked people in check.