In the case of an accident in the street, a few minutes can make an everlasting difference in the person's life who is hurt, and if the ambulance is late, it may mean that lives cannot be saved. When the dentist puts an inlay in somebody's mouth, the dentist is satisfied if that piece of material holds for five years. Five years make a lasting difference -- better than a tooth extraction. When you get a heart attack, you are taken care of in the hospital. After the cure they say you are healthy again -- but that may mean that a portion of your heart is dead. A cure is always relative, and we should appreciate the percentages. If three fourth of your heart survived the attack, that makes a lasting difference in the possible length of your lifetime. If you can walk away only with one fourth of a functioning heart, you are not that lucky. But this is still a lasting difference compared to death.

Peacekeeping forces cannot bring redemption or salvation to the war zones of the earth. But sending them over there is a much better solution than sending bombs or other killing machines. Men are less effective than they ought to be at easing international conflicts. It is something like a functioning democracy: Hard to play and imperfect in many ways. Alas, as of today no one discovered anything better. An imperfect solution is much better than a bad one -- or than nothing. So, please, trust those peacekeeping forces a bit and send them in right away. We can complain later if peace requires more than them alone.