I own nothing.

Think back to when you were a child. Think back to when you were innocent, guiltless. Think back to what you did. Think of the games you played.

Capture the flag.

King of the hill.

Hide and seek.

Tug of war.

Dodge ball.

Tag.

Rudimentary war games.

It's really not surprising to see so many parallels between innocent childish games and horrifying war scenarios. Maybe it's due to all that "sensational" violence media outlets suck up and spit out, earning the everlasting enmity of overbearing and uneducated parents everywhere-- But I doubt it. Children played those games before the media could transmit images. It's our instinct, playing out of us before we can even begin to comprehend what we're doing-- preparing ourselves for real war, for the day those fake guns turn real, when balls become bombs.

Humans are built on war, our ancestors killing each other for land or resources or differences in belief. Our history is soaked in blood from uncountable of conflicts, skirmishes and battles, from world wars to bar fights. Our progress as a species can be marked by our wars, our weapons-- from the earliest days, when we punched and kicked and bit, to when we realized a rock was more powerful then the naked hand, a spear even more so, continuing on to swords and arrows, to bullets and nuclear bombs, to mass accelerated slugs and GUARDIAN lasers.

And all of that war is built on children playing.

Because those children grow up. Those little angels become little monsters. Tug of war becomes a battle field, each side vying for control. King of the hill becomes garrisons and drawn out sieges. Capture the flag becomes missions and objectives: get a, bring it to b, kill everything in your way. Dodge ball becomes firefights, hiding behind cover or in trenches or behind armor and shields to avoid getting hit by balls that now resembled bullets, shot out of guns, not propelled from children

s hands. Hide and seek becomes clandestine operations, avoiding the enemy while they hunted you like an animal. Tag turned into open combat, where everyone was "it" and when you got hit, you went down. Sometimes for good.

Yes. It's cynical to see the world this way. But it's also true.

And just like in children's games, there's a winner and a loser.

Here's where the only difference between innocent games and bloody war comes into play:

In games, when you lose, you go home and play again later.

In war, when you lose, you go home in a pine box, and there is no later.