War...1

College is over...and there are still couple of months left b4 I join a university for my masters. As you might have guessed, I have lots and lots of time these days, and I really dont know what to do these days. I am actually bored of doing nothing these days. One might say that there can be many things that can be done like joining a part time job, working with your father, blah-blah-blah...but then, I am extremely lazy!! So I spent most of my time home..doing nothing excepting sleeping (ofcourse).

I picked up a book named "War" when I finally thought enough is enough.( I was too bored by getting bored everyday by doing nothing.) I thought it was a history book, but it was not. I opened its pages and the author had dedicated the book to Napoleon, Sun-tzu (never had herd of him), goddess Athena & Brutus (his pet cat). I was wondering, I can understand dedication of the book towards Napoleon and to an extent towards Brutus (out of love I am assuming) but since I had never herd of Sun-tzu, I had no clue why it was dedicated to him. And more surprizing was dedication to Athena, since in Greek mythology Ares was God of war not Athena. Since she was goddess of wisdom, I thought why was the book dedicated to her, cos I dont think its wise to wage war!!

When I have read a few more pages, I will right more abt the book...I definately seems an interesting book. Here are bits and pieces of the preface of the book

"We live in a culture that promotes democratic values of being fair to one and all, the importance of fitting into a group, and knowing how to cooperate with other people.

We are taught early in life that those who are outwardly combative and aggresive pay a social price: unpopularity and isolation....

The problem for us is that we are trained and prepared for peace, and we are not at all prepared for what confronts us in the real world --- WAR.

This war exists on several levels. Most obviously, we have our rivals on the other side. The world has become increasingly competitive and nasty. In politics, business, even the arts, we face opponents who will do almost anything to gain an edge. More troubling and complex, however, are the battles we face with those who are supposedly on our side.

There are those who outwardly play the team game, who act very friendly and agreeable, but who sabotage us behind the scenes, use the group to pormote their own agenda.

Other, more difficult to spot, play subtle games of passive aggression, offering help that never comes, instilling guilt as a secret weapon.

On the surface everything seems peaceful enough, but just below it, it is every man and woman for him - or herself, this dynamic infecting even families and relationships."