War or Peace?

Many of you must have read about the famous 'The Man in the Arena' speech by Theodore Roosevelt. The passage from the speech which has made the speech memorable and is oft quoted is:

It is not the critic who counts;The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

However, I was reading the rest of the speech when I found another paragraph which was as thoughtful the first one ... here it goes:

War is a dreadful thing, and unjust war is a crime against humanity. But it is such a crime because it is unjust, not because it is a war. The choice must ever be in favour of righteousness, and this is whether the alternative be peace or whether the alternative be war.

The question must not be merely, Is there to be peace or war? The question must be, Is it right to prevail? Are the great laws of righteousness once more to be fulfilled? And the answer from a strong and virile people must be “Yes,” whatever the cost.

Every honourable effort should always be made to avoid war, just as every honourable effort should always be made by the individual in private life to keep out of a brawl, to keep out of trouble; but no self-respecting individual, no self-respecting nation, can or ought to submit to wrong.

Read the full speech here: www.theodoreroosevelt.org/research/speech%20arena.htm
.