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OK. The kids are back.
So real quick: I have never been in a war. I don't like fighting, but I've never
had to fight for anything, either. So who am I to judge? In the face of adversity, one's mettle is truly tested. I would never dare to compare my own quality of soul to that of a soldier's. I would be sorely outweighed.
Thank you for the reminder Aerial70, it is a sentiment too seldom expressed. I bow my head respectfully to you and all warriors.
posted by
Helen_Bach
on January 23, 2007 at 8:42 AM
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My mouth remains silent...
But my fingers must comment. I don't always agree with the reasons behind a war or with the minds behind it, but this point of view has always remained separate from how I see the fighters.
One of the more atrocious things I have ever heard was when someone declared that the firefighters of 9/11 Twin Towers were not heroes because they were only doing their job. How utterly horrible! It might have been their jobs, but in the face of such great risk (death), they could have also opted to stand back or run. They had a choice, no matter what. There is always a choice. They showed exceptional courage.
Oops. Would like to write more, but have lost track of time. Must pick up the kids. Beautiful piece, Aerial70.
posted by
Helen_Bach
on January 23, 2007 at 7:39 AM
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Ariel70
I can still see those soldiers in Bergen-Belsen, Ariel70. I can still feel the revulsion I felt as we all saw the black and white newsreel - Pathe Pictorial, if I remember correctly- at the local cinema. And the trouble we had trying to get our minds around the fact that these were human and that other humans had done this to them - and on purpose??
posted by
johnmacnab
on January 22, 2007 at 8:35 PM
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Very eloquently put
It probably bears pointing out that in WWII, also, there were influential, rich and intelligent people who showed support for the Nazis and others who sought peace who were aghast when FDR (a distant cousin of mine, btw) through Lend-Lease and building up military production and naval presence increasingly involved the USA in that war. I would be willing to wager that not a single one of these Nazi sympathizers or peace activists read "Mein Kampf" or had any idea of the barbarity of the Nazi agenda. A lot of torture and bloodshed would have been avoided had they done so.
I believe we are at the same sort of crossroads now with gross ignorance of Islam and of its basis, the Qu'ran. It is true that many, if not most, Western Muslims have not read the Qu'ran in its entirety and many seem to view its more problematic passages in a figurative sense. To those of us living with our Muslim neighbors, the violent actions of their Muslim brothers and sisters overseas is a mystery too easily dismissed as an aberration. Without reading the Qu'ran, we can not discount the notion that our good Muslim neighbors are the aberration.
Carl Peter
posted by
cpklapper
on January 22, 2007 at 8:07 PM
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I can't imagine seeing atrocities like that.
Even with the war in Iraq, I haven't really witnessed anything such as what you've described. I do know that war is a horrible thing, but I am grateful to our soldiers for defending our country.
posted by
Jadelynn
on January 22, 2007 at 7:48 PM
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Troosha
No, no, and no again! There really is no need to apologise to me!
I took you very impressive poem at its face value, and I in turn valued it. You are a good, humane, compassionate person, and you have my full respect for what you write.
Once more, i am not touting for clicks, because I don't really care where I am in the pop rankings, but I've just posted the first part of a three part story abouth the Holocaust, based on fact, on my new fiction blog. It should be required reading for all in here.
I feel very strongly that as long as you, I, and many others in here, and without, raise our voices in protest at the cruelties of the world, our hope for a better future will grow exponentially, and be realised in full measure.
I shall keep banging on about this until I drive people mad ; or make them agree with me! We in the west are not bad people ... we are not.
The mere fact that you and I lament the atrocities of the world, other bloggers comment sympathetically on what we write, is a measure of how far we have come from our brute beginnings.
Barbarains do not evince such tender suseptibilities, but revel in their barbarity. We do not ; we care ; we protest ; we write, and eventually we will make our voices heard.
For we have a fire in our bellies that will not be quenched by the lies, the platitudes, the placebos of the politicians.
To perpetrate an crib historical crib ; " ... be of good cheer, mistress Troosha, for we shall this day in Blogit light such a candle as shall never be put out."
Be well, be strong in your faith, go on speading love and compassion, amiga
posted by
ariel70
on January 22, 2007 at 11:04 AM
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Ariel
My poem yesterday was in no way meant to diminish or discredit the horrors that people such as your self witnessed and lived through. Quite the contrary – my intent was to “remember”, honour, and awaken awareness that even though kindness is the strongest inherent quality we humans possess, at various times through history it has been swallowed up with hatred. I was also trying to convey, that God willing, there be an end to such senseless killings.
There is no disputing that you have personal awareness of war and its effects. Those of us who did not live through it are moved by the atrocity only through reading, listening, and seeing images. I suspect I speak for many that our hearts go out to the survivors and the victims of the holocaust as well as any genocide. Our compassion is infinite even though our full understanding may be limited.
Please accept my apologies if my attempt to genuflect and express my sorrow for these kind of horrific events offended your sensibilities.
posted by
Troosha
on January 22, 2007 at 10:42 AM
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i have nothing but respect for our soldiers
fighting and dying and putting their live on the line for duty.
I have trouble with the cause.
In my blog, "THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS " - I compare Saddam to China -- demonstrating that we face a far greater enemy in China than we ever did with Iraq.
My issue is our administration virtually inventing reasons to invade, when the reason behind all this really seems the threat to Israel, and this support of Israel stemming mainly from the idea that too many Christians hold --that The Temple will be built and the Abomination of Desolation will sit in that temple and that Christ will come again after that.
Our young people are being placed in harm's way for a cause that lacks validity. This is my problem.
No argument with Saddam's atrocities. But our leaders have turned a blind eye toward them for decades for their own purposes. Saddam no longer served their purposes.
posted by
Xeno-x
on January 22, 2007 at 8:05 AM
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Ariel 70.......
If only everyone in the US were required to see what you have seen....maybe then we wouldn't see the tsunami of negativity and hate toward our countries from within.......I'm looking forward to the next post!
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on January 21, 2007 at 3:36 PM
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Pat_B
Yes, of course, I know that many in here recall those days, including you.
It is those ( mainly young, mainly ignorant ) who have not the intelligence to distinguish between a just and an unjust war that my stricture were aimed at.
What sort of person would hurl abuse at a soldier in a wheelchair ; would treat a bedridden soldier in a British hospital in the like manner? It fills me with disgust.
Unwittingly, my dear friend, you have illuminated our struggle to ascend from the pit of barbarism. For by the very fact that you and I, and so many others lament the cruelties and the atrocities of wars is proof that we can, and do, even if in a halting way, strain to reach a higher level.
True barbarians do no such thing, but accept, and revel in their barbarism
posted by
ariel70
on January 21, 2007 at 3:08 PM
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Ariel, there are others here who recall the real horrors, and the
time when everyone did without, victory gardens and doing without. I remember those horrible newsreels of the death camps, of the freed prisoners, the "cordwood" of stacked bodies. Though I was a child and as a girl never under threat of being drafted, I would have gone if my country needed me. Seeing the wounded return, the horrible aftermath that took its toll of every family, the post traumatic stress and survivor guilt, I learned to hate war. I hate the weaponry, the way death and destruction have been made so technologically easy. I hate the idea that money is being made on the gruesome science of war. But I know the soldiers are not in control, they are doing their duty and trying to protect the rest of us -- I admire them and worry for them, and have nothing but respect for their families.
posted by
Pat_B
on January 21, 2007 at 2:54 PM
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Well spoken, El Tel!
posted by
Antonionioni
on January 21, 2007 at 2:34 PM
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