Raytheon

One of the most prominent arguments that my dad and I get into is the necessity of war. Let me tell you a little about my dad before I continue, he's a retired marine who works for Raytheon. He went over to Japan and Korea when he was seventeen then, more recently, to Iraq and Kuwait as a contracted civillian. When I ask him, nostalgically, why he was so eager to leave his family and get up and move to another nation, his response is always the same: "To fight for our nation's cause".
This phrase, my dear friends, is the foundation to our argument. This force-fed idealism intrigues me so much in fact that I'm in disbelief that my hero, my father, believes in it so strongly. Once a year, the extremely private business of Raytheon opens their doors to the employee's families. This year, when he had "take your family to work day", I agreed to come along only because of the eager-wagging-tail-like-a-puppy look in my father's eyes. As we were walking through the halls lined with war missles and simulations, my dislike increased more and more with every step. Watching the faces of my father's peers angered me. Thinking about the concept and purpose for these missles made me uneasy. Then imagining the destruction wrought by such murderous weapons made me sick to my stomach.
Then, the thought overwhelmed me: this is only a crumb of destruction that humanity has made possible. With the invention of the nuclear weapon, our lives are forever in danger. With the mass-production of the nuclear weapon, the United States is no longer the world's prominent powerhouse. We now live in a world where nuclear warfare is an accepted ideal. Where "our country's cause" is indented to kill to find peace. This world where death is acceptable as a means of liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness. What's wrong with this world?

"Today I can declare my hope and declare it from the bottom of my heart that we will eventually see the time when that number of nuclear weapons is down to zero and the world is a much better place.” -Collin Powell