War is not a Show

As bullets and missiles

rain down on innocent people

we eat dinner and watch the latest news

almost numbed by tragedy

But war is not a show

War is carnage, brutality and destruction

War is killing and maiming soldiers who are not guilty

of the perverse political games of their leaders

War makes homeless millions of displaced people

and denies children of a healthy future

War is destruction of the human spirit

War is a scourge on humanity.

About the Author

César Chelala is a physician and writer born in Argentina and living in the U.S. He wrote for leading newspapers all over the world and for the main medical journals, among them The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Japan Times, The China Daily, The Moscow Times, The International Herald Tribune, Le Monde Diplomatique, Harvard International Review, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, and The British Medical Journal. He is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award and two national journalism awards from Argentina.