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Erasmus of Rotterdam 15th/16th century Dutch humanist and theologian ********************************************************************************************************************************** Drummer Hodge They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest Uncoffined - just as found: His landmark is a kopje-crest That breaks the veldt around; And foreign constellations west Each night above his mound. Young Hodge the Drummer never knew - Fresh from his Wessex home - The meaning of the broad Karoo, The Bush, the dusty loam, And why uprose to nightly view Strange stars amid the gloam. Yet portion of that unknown plain Will Hodge forever be; His homely Northern breast and brain Grow to some Southern tree, And strange-eyed constellation reign His stars eternally. Thomas Hardy (Boer War) ********************************************************************************************************************************** Now I know that this is a seemingly random, perhaps even bizarre or frightening, introduction for a post related to the start of the New Year. But, of course, I am more than capable of dealing in the random, and the bizarre. After all, I am a lover of Chaos Theory. It is the ultimate in the randomness being tied in to the relative. But then again, if all things are connected, then nothing is random. I am not a lover of the “New Year”. To me, there is no sudden regeneration of goodness; things are not new and improved, revitalized. There is no absolution because we have gone from 2008 to 2009. It is all simply numerical manipulation. January 1st is merely the day between December 31st and January 2nd. When I checked this morning, the same wars going on in 2008 were still going on in 2009. Nothing had changed. Understandably, for many, there is much to look forward to this year. The election of Barack Obama has yielded much hope for many people: including me. It is my most fervent wish that he is able to deliver most of what he has promised. Moreover, I am hoping that he is given time and support to put his plans into place. If something was to happen to him, this country will tear itself apart. ********************************************************************************************************************************** Anthem For The Doomed Youth What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? – Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, – The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. Wilfred Owen (World War I - “The Great War”) ********************************************************************************************************************************** If there is anything that has been promised by Barack Obama, it is the end of the Iraq war and the end of the war in Afghanistan that I most wish to see come to pass. From personal observation, family observations and recollections, historical study, and even economic study, it is pretty obvious that all one war does is set the table for the next war. There have been Fallic family members fighting in the Napoleonic, Crimean, Boer, Spanish-American, WWI and WWII, Korean, Vietnam, Falklands, Northern Ireland, Iraq I and Iraq II, and in the not too distant future, Afghanistan wars. This does not even begin to include “actions” in places like Aden, Kenya, Panama and Somalia. I come from a family that is much entwined in the military of both the US and the UK. My sister has even been decorated for bravery for actions in Iraq as has her USMC husband. My grandfathers were both awarded medals for conspicuous gallantry in World War II. My great-grandfather won medals at the Somme and the Marne. I consider myself to be pro-soldier and anti-war. ********************************************************************************************************************************** Suicide In The Trenches I knew a simple soldier boy Who grinned at life in empty joy, Slept soundly through the lonesome dark, And whistled early with the lark. In winter trenches, cowed and glum, With crumps and lice and lack of rum, He put a bullet through his brain. No one spoke of him again. You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye Who cheer when soldier lads march by, Sneak home and pray you’ll never know The hell where youth and laughter go. Siegfried Sassoon (World War I - “The War To End All Wars”) ********************************************************************************************************************************** I have no doubt that if I had stayed in the UK, I would have ignored the wishes of my mother to go to London School of Economics and would have enlisted in the army: probably the paras, since there is a lot of family history there. And if possible, I would have gone into 7 SAS as well. This is another regiment with family members defending the crown, doing great deeds (and some rather dark deeds too ‒ it is the SAS after all) and bleeding for Queen and Country. I would have fought in the Falklands alongside several other boys who I went to high school with. But talking to the people who have been there, and done that, so to speak, there is nothing heroic about war other than surviving it intact in mind, body and spirit. And from listening to my great granddad, granddads, godfather, brother-in-law, sister, best friend, etc. nobody can return with all three intact. Something has to be sacrificed. Something is sacrificed. There is no greater good in a war: even stopping someone like Hitler. Genocide can happen anywhere, at anytime, and using military force is just like stepping on a balloon. It disappears from one place and emerges somewhere else. Humans, en masse, lack humanity. ********************************************************************************************************************************** How To Kill Under the parabola of a ball, a turning into a man, I looked into the air too long. The ball fell in my hand, it sang in the closed fist: Open Open Behold a gift designed to kill. Now in my dial of glass appears the soldier who is going to die. He smiles, and moves about in ways his mother knows, habits of his. The wires touch his face: I cry NOW. Death, like a familiar, hears and look, has made a man of dust of a man of flesh. This sorcery I do. Being damned, I am amused to see the centre of love diffused and the wave of love travel into vacancy. How easy it is to make a ghost. The weightless mosquito touches her tiny shadow on the stone, and with how like, how infinite a lightness, man and shadow meet. They fuse. A shadow is a man when the mosquito death approaches. Keith Douglas (World War II ‒ the war after “The War To End All Wars”) ********************************************************************************************************************************** Wars create martyrs, who created myths, which lead to further wars. Events in Iraq will linger for fifty to one hundred years: minimum. A castrated Iraq has led to an invigorated Iran. An invigorated Iran is leading to an even more paranoid Israel. A paranoid Israel is even more intolerant of the nations around it. The nations around Israel are seeing themselves as threatened. Iran is using that threat to galvanize an Islamic awakening. An Islamic awakening makes Israel even more paranoid ........ And in the middle of this seething cauldron of paranoia, hatred and religious intolerance are the US and British forces. The best place for them to be is anywhere but in middle of a religious, nationalist and tribal whirlpool. This is an area that was racked with wars when Genesis was being recorded (not the record album, but the first book of the Old Testament) on clay tablets. Nothing much has changed in the intervening millennia. And probably, several millennia into the future (should humans survive so long), there will still be wars fought in that area. It is the cradle of civilization. Civilization equates to governments. Governments raise armies to protect themselves. Armies need to be “entertained” so that, like a fighting pit bull, they do not turn on their handlers (think Rome’s Praetorian Guard). This has been a pattern since Assyria ruled the world..... ********************************************************************************************************************************** No Heroes There were no heroes here Amongst the men who tramped through Rutted, quaking moor, Or crawled, cat-silent, Over skittering scree To prove the way. No heroes fought the blazing fires Which sucked the very blood from Ship and man alike. Or braved knife cold Without a thought To save a life. No heroes they, but ones who loved Sweet life and 's laugh, And dreamt of home When war allowed. They were but men. David Morgan (Falkland Islands) ********************************************************************************************************************************** Throughout the years, war has been glamorized. It was glamorized by many of its biggest detractors as a self-protective device. The soldiers who fought the battles told the stories in a self-deprecating and self-effacing manner in order to obscure what sights, and sounds, and smells of war did to them. And in doing so, they have perpetuated the myths that “there is a certain nobility in war”. The same great-grandfather who told amazing tales of charging across no-man’s land also cried himself to sleep for the next fifty years. My grandfather who survived Dunquerque and Sicily and Normandy died at a relatively young age from the way that training troops to go and die ravaged his psyche. My brother-in-law has spent three tours in Iraq and has PTSD and even my sister is not sure of quite what he has seen and done. My godfather walks around armed to the teeth in England (legally) because he has so many bounties on his head as a result of the things he did (very bad things) in Northern Ireland. There is no glory in these things. There is honor in upholding an oath to defend and protect either the Constitution or the Crown. But that honor should not be taken advantage of by a self-serving government. A fundamental shift in the national thinking is what I am most hopeful for in the New Year from the incoming President. I truly hope that it is not too late. ********************************************************************************************************************************** Kill Me A God looked down and said Kill me a But when one was dead The killing wasn't done The killing went on And more sons came Some said it was wrong But more were still slain Why did we make war? To that place in the East WMDs for sure The devil's had his feast Gregory Robert Samuels (Iraq)  |
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This post hits me especially hard today as my son (by law) will be leaving in the next couple of weeks for Afghanistan leaving his most beloved wife (and my daughter of course) at home to experience the pregnancy and birth of their first child...and it breaks my heart. On so many levels it breaks my heart. He's a wonderful man, with a sweet spirt and a beautiful soul, I pray over and over that he maintains those, I pray that he comes back whole, in mind, body and spirit. But I'm scared. It's so wrong. I couldn't agree with you more Fallic... I make mistakes, I am out of control & at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best. ~Marilyn
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There are no words for me to add ... I stand in solidarity -- and peace. *much love* /   This is my blog - [blog _Safira]. There are many like it, but this one is mine. RECOMMENDED READING: A F F The Only Site For Me
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I so agree with you about the war but a new year is much like a new day...it is a mental state of hope...hoping for some things to change...hoping some things will get better...and maybe that hope and that faith helps make it so...Happy New Year to you...to all of us
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This post hits me especially hard today as my son (by law) will be leaving in the next couple of weeks for Afghanistan leaving his most beloved wife (and my daughter of course) at home to experience the pregnancy and birth of their first child...and it breaks my heart. On so many levels it breaks my heart. He's a wonderful man, with a sweet spirt and a beautiful soul, I pray over and over that he maintains those, I pray that he comes back whole, in mind, body and spirit. But I'm scared. It's so wrong. I couldn't agree with you more Fallic... This was a post that I carried on an internal battle as to whether or not to post it. There are so many people out there coming to terms with loved ones (or themselves) going to, or returning from, Iraq and Afghanistan. I have sat and worried and fretted and just plain agonized over what is happening to friends and family who I have not heard from for months on end .... Your response tells me that it was okay to write this post and express my personal feelings about what has been going on. L
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There are no words for me to add ... I stand in solidarity -- and peace. *much love* / As always, you added the perfect words. Look after my little sister Imp. She will need your strength ....
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I so agree with you about the war but a new year is much like a new day...it is a mental state of hope...hoping for some things to change...hoping some things will get better...and maybe that hope and that faith helps make it so...Happy New Year to you...to all of us I am in great hope for the new year, but not necessarily hopeful. After all, it was my boyhood hero Pete Townsend who wrote "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" Now Mr Obama has to prove that this is not true ....
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Tiz, Thankyou for this. As I told my wonderful friend Imp, I was very unsure if I should post this or not. It is a post that is incredibly personal to me, and I am so encouraged and touched by the very personal responses to it.
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I completely agree that a new year does not equal a clean slate and a chance to start over. Things are exactly the same for me now as they were last week  [post 3969793]
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I completely agree that a new year does not equal a clean slate and a chance to start over. Things are exactly the same for me now as they were last week And who is to say that we are even on the correct calendar (the Gregorian, which is a correction of the Julian). After all, perhaps the Jewish or the Chinese calendars are actually correct. It seems to me that our calendar works more as a control mechanism for the organs of state than it does for the individuals living in that environment.
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