Why conflict occurs is less important than how it effects people.

The world is less safe than it has ever been. The myriad of problems, conflicts, and catastrophes we find ourselves in are being documented hourly in blogs, in documentaries, on talk radio, and even with growing frequency, in the mainstream media. It is natural then that the question on all our lips is “why? “. If not, it should be.
To reason is innate to human nature. When we encounter conflict we are obliged to “assume a pose”. Conflict’s inevitability and relentless nature necessitates a reaction; a choice. Unfortunately as Karl Marx famously elucidated, “reason has always existed but not in a reasonable form”. As 2014 has unfurled, the world has been forced to find reason in two incongruous disasters in a matter of months. In March, Boeing passenger flight 370, with 239 people on board, disappeared off radar. It seemingly vanished. Such an inexplicable event was understandably met with a public response which ranged from incredulity to disdain. We needed reasons why. So when the answers didn’t come, beyond the inevitable conspiracy theories, the collective reaction was one of resignation. But when the tragic horror of the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was reported only months later, with the additional loss of almost 300 lives, our reaction was not so passive. It was not just answers we sought, we also needed to apportion blame. Whether because of human error, mechanical error, or the “fog of war” we were not inclined to pass it off as one of those things that happen when civilians wander into (or over) a battlefield. These ‘innocents’ died through no fault of their own and as such Putin was decried on a world stage. Unfortunately, an impenitent President Putin did little to alleviate our public ire, but it did show us that the ‘why’ of the conflict was less important than how we were effected. Just as the terror attacks of September 11 shattered the seemingly impenetrable American sense of safety, so to these ‘disasters’ made us all feel a little more vulnerable. The reasons for these incidents ran a very close second to the way they made us feel.
Human nature is an inexplicable beast; one that oscillates between emotion and reason relentlessly. However as adults we tend to pride ourselves on our ability to reason because whilst emotion may lead to action, reason is seen as step toward understanding. This is perhaps why acts of terror so deeply affect us. Firstly because it defies reason and secondly because jeopardises our way of life.
You move totally away from reality when you believe that there is a legitimate reason to suffer.

The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.
Voltaire—Cherish diversity paragraph

Conflict