Reflections on the War

Entry posted by Kzoppistan May 1, 2009

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Reflections on the War.

One soldier’s musings.

As I sit here in the midnight hour, awash in the monitor’s electronic glow, thoughts of the last two weeks surface in my mind. Commitment and betrayal. Foresight and hindsight. Politics and War. Where are we now? And where are we going?

For some of us, the war ended too early, for others, just at the right time. For me, the war was very exciting with passions running hot on all sides. The anxiousness and tension, the thrill, I felt on the eve of battle was only paralleled by the ecstasy of victory and the agony of defeat. The trepidation at having the last bit of life stomped out of my nation has been replaced by a sense of relief, if not, too, a bit of wistfulness.

As this front of the war closes, we have to consider the ramifications of our actions and those of others. On the whole, I think this experience has been a net gain. Despite the thumping we took to our alliance strength, we gained something even more important, something that no amount of tech or infra or money can rival, something that goes beyond our collective pixels to make the whole greater than the parts: respect.

True, our forces were checked by the combined power of our opponents, but there can be no doubt that we fought with skill, power, and courage. We blackened a few eyes and showed the world that we are not to be trifled with. Not only did we display our ability to honor our treaties to the world but we also proved that we inspire the same acts from our allies who came to our side to face insurmountable odds with us.

And then there were those who did not see fit to stand with us at all. In spite of the war, damage to our stats, and any bad foreign relations that may have arisen (if any), the one thing that hurt us the most was the loss of some of our members. There is no doubt that they deserted us in our time of need. That said, and giving my head some time to cool, it seems I can find no good reason to pursue a vendetta against them. It will only continue to entrench any hard feelings on all sides and will make us look petty.

The reason those departures causes so much distress in my heart is that they made silent (and sometimes not so silent) implications that we were not doing things the right way. Their abandonment of us implied a criticism, which raises ugly questions in the back of my mind. Even though I think they were wrong for what they did and we are doing things quite well, those questions need to be raised. If we wish to continue to grow, to pursue our doctrine as the alliance of change, to reach the apex of our potential, we need to ask ourselves challenging questions. How can we do what we do better? What needs to be changed, what does not? Of the many paths, which to take? How do we improve ourselves, not only as an alliance, not only as leaders of nations, but also as people?

And in the end, it may be that no matter what we do or how we do them, these sort of people will always leave because of their own overriding personal issues; if so then we are better off without them. This time their shortsightedness has caused them to miss out on our glory, current and soon to be. I, for one, am confident that the future holds great things for us.

So it is, for now, a moment to rebuild and reorganize. A task we should focus all of our energy into because we still do not know what lies on the horizon. The political fallout from this war may yet again set us on a path of conflict. We will have to wait until the dust settles more before plotting a course. So until then we need to get back on our feet and kick our growth into high gear.

It was great serving with you all and many of your words and actions have bolstered my faith in the awesomeness of this group of people. I am proud of our leaders who have shown us what courage under fire, competence, and confidence in any situation means. May we continue to prosper.

~Ex Astris Scientia

From the notes of Mr. Otingocni of Kzoppistan