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Remember War, and Strive for Peace

Scylla Rhiadra

By Scylla Rhiadra,
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Scylla Rhiadra

Scylla Rhiadra

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In memory of all of those hundreds of millions -- soldiers and civilians -- who have perished in the last century through the all-too-human illusion that anything is ever solved by war.

Time to put the "same old lie" to rest.

This is by Wilfred Owen, who died in action on the Western Front on November 4, 1918,

"Dulce Et Decorum Est"

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori. 

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Ceka Cianci

Ceka Cianci

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too many die while politicians play games with our lives while they hide their own families from going and fighting at our sides..in the name of freedom..as long as it doesn't cost them anything..

i had a few that i was trying to decide which one to post..but i think they all have important words to say..so i'm just gonna go ahead and post the others as well..

a lot may not like him but i think George Carlin was pretty smart man especially when it comes to war..

 

also i really loved  when GNR came out with this song..i love the songs that mention the politicians and those so rich that they can get a free pass to watch the game..

i respect our soldiers..if we don't  then who will? the politicians? ya right..they send them to die..

 

 

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Gypsy Quixote

Gypsy Quixote

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With all deserved and due respect to those who have served ... many, many, many more civilians have paid the ultimate price for no reason other than living in the wrong place at the wrong time during war. Men, women, children, elders .. they were just as deserving, just as human, just as patriotic, just as brave .. and they are just as dead.

There is no day for them. 

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honerken

honerken

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I find nothing pretty about war, and I will never support it, no matter what anyone says.   A lot of people innocent people died because of govermental egos, simply because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.  The death of over 200,000 people who died in an atomic bomb.....just the most disgusting act I ever read in history.

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Jo Yardley

Jo Yardley

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War is horrible and soldiers do bad things, such is life.

But extreme situations bring in the worst AND best in mankind.

And sometimes wars are bad things where good people do bad AND good things, sometimes wars are needed, sometimes they are about greed yet fought by young men and women who look beyond the rubbish their politicians tell them.

Either way, on the 11th of the 11th I remember those who fought and died for my freedom AND my life.

If it wasn't for the Canadian forces liberating my city, I probably wouldn't have been here, if it wasn't for that horrible atomic bomb I defenitely wouldn't have been here, but more importantly my grandmother would not have survived that Japanese concentration camp.

As part of my RL job I often speak to veterans, civilians who lived trough Nazi occupation, Jews and members of the Resistance.
My family suffered during the war but some of them were also involved in the fighting.
An acquaintance of mine was a 16 year old girl when the war began and when she joined the resistance where she blew up trains and killed traitors.
Something she hated to do, it broke her and she still has nightmares about it... but no regrets.

I know sometimes they had to do things even they feel were bad, but I also know that they did them for a good reason.

I am against war and in most cases feel the motives for war are either unjust or lied about.

That does not make me respect those people who fight it as civilised as possible any less.

Because it is very simple, I respect those who are anti war and who refuse to fight very much, but if everyone felt that way in 1939, my country might now still be under Nazi rule, many of my family would have died and I would not have been born.

Hate war, even hate those soldiers that do bad things, hate politicians that lie about why we fight them.

But respect those that fought and fight them for the right reasons, that fought as civilised as they could.

War is rarely sweet, sometimes it is right, but very very few actually fight it for their country.

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Mayalily

Mayalily

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Scylla Rhiadra wrote:

In memory of all of those hundreds of millions -- soldiers and civilians -- who have perished in the last century through the all-too-human illusion that anything is ever solved by war.

 

Time to put the "same old lie" to rest.

 

This is by Wilfred Owen, who died in action on the Western Front on November 4, 1918,

 

"Dulce Et Decorum Est"

 

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

 

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

 

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

 

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori. 

How, interesting, that person was a "war" poet.

I wonder if the character in the movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" and the character in the German book by a different title was written about this person?

 

Paul Bäumer

Paul Bäumer is the main character and narrator. At 19 years of age, Paul enlists in the German Army and is deployed to the Western Front where he experiences the severe psychological and physical effects of the war. Before the War, Paul was a creative, sensitive, and passionate person, writing poems and having a clear love for his family. But as the war changed his attitude and personality, poems and other aspects of his past life become something Paul could not remember having any link to, and he learns to disconnect himself from his feelings. He feels he can't tell anyone about his experiences, and feels like an outsider where his family is concerned.

By the end of the book, Paul realizes that he no longer knows what to do with himself and decides that he has nothing more to lose. The war appears to have snuffed out his hopes and dreams, which he feels he can never regain.

 

Anyhow, we can strive for peace, but Iran just recently claimed they have a missle that will strike Israel.  Iran has had several articles now eluding to possibly targeting Israel soon that just came out about a week ago.  I think this dictator of Iran is as crazy as Hitler.   

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Mayalily

Mayalily

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Sy Beck wrote:

Err....Wilfred Owen was English and not German, so no.  Also, Owen died one week before the end of WW1 and the book was written in 1929.

I remember a bit of the movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" and I do kind of recall the main character was a poet.  I find that interesting that there was actually a real war poet.  "All Quiet on the Western Front" is fiction though which can be inspired by any real life person.  Doesn't have to be a character in the same country when writing fiction, as fiction can by "inspired by"...

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Sy Beck

Sy Beck

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Mayalily wrote:

Sy Beck wrote:

Err....Wilfred Owen was English and not German, so no.  Also, Owen died one week before the end of WW1 and the book was written in 1929.

I remember a bit of the movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" and I do kind of recall the main character was a poet.  I find that interesting that there was actually a real war poet.  "All Quiet on the Western Front" is fiction though which can be inspired by any real life person.  Doesn't have to be a character in the same country when writing fiction, as fiction can by "inspired by"...

You've seriously never known of any war poets or that they existed?

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Mayalily

Mayalily

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Sy Beck wrote:

Mayalily wrote:

Sy Beck wrote:

Err....Wilfred Owen was English and not German, so no.  Also, Owen died one week before the end of WW1 and the book was written in 1929.

I remember a bit of the movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" and I do kind of recall the main character was a poet.  I find that interesting that there was actually a real war poet.  "All Quiet on the Western Front" is fiction though which can be inspired by any real life person.  Doesn't have to be a character in the same country when writing fiction, as fiction can by "inspired by"...

You've seriously never known of any war poets or that they existed?

No, I don't like anything about war so I never read any war poetry nor was ever introduced to any in school.  I also don't like nor watch war movies.  I can't stand them as a form of entertainment.  I liked Saving Private Ryan and usually chose that one to watch on a Veteran's Day holiday; however, All Quiet on the Western Front is hailed as one of greatest anti-war war novels and movies of all time.  So, I have watched All Quiet on the Western Front, but that was a while ago, and didn't watch any war movies this Veteran's Day weekend.  I don't care for war related things and do not like war movies nor watch them.  I'm into girlie girl things, and have no interest in watching war movies.

However, this dictator from Iran does scare me a little, so I do read what is going on about that. 

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Jo Yardley

Jo Yardley

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Mayalily wrote:

No, I don't like anything about war so I never read any war poetry nor was ever introduced to any in school.  I also don't like nor watch war movies.  I can't stand them as a form of entertainment.  I liked Saving Private Ryan and usually chose that one to watch on a Veteran's Day holiday; however, All Quiet on the Western Front is hailed as one of greatest anti-war war novels and movies of all time.  So, I have watched All Quiet on the Western Front, but that was a while ago, and didn't watch any war movies this Veteran's Day weekend.  I don't care for war related things and do not like war movies nor watch them.  I'm into girlie girl things, and have no interest in watching war movies.

However, this dictator from Iran does scare me a little, so I do read what is going on about that. 

The more you dislike war, the more you should learn about it.

Watching war movies isn't about being girlie or boylie (?!), it is about understanding the past, making sure it won't happen again.

War is part of my life, every day.

I educate people about the past, war is horrible but also very interesting as it brings both the worst and best in humans come to the surface.

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Mayalily

Mayalily

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Jo Yardley wrote:

Mayalily wrote:

No, I don't like anything about war so I never read any war poetry nor was ever introduced to any in school.  I also don't like nor watch war movies.  I can't stand them as a form of entertainment.  I liked Saving Private Ryan and usually chose that one to watch on a Veteran's Day holiday; however, All Quiet on the Western Front is hailed as one of greatest anti-war war novels and movies of all time.  So, I have watched All Quiet on the Western Front, but that was a while ago, and didn't watch any war movies this Veteran's Day weekend.  I don't care for war related things and do not like war movies nor watch them.  I'm into girlie girl things, and have no interest in watching war movies.

However, this dictator from Iran does scare me a little, so I do read what is going on about that. 

The more you dislike war, the more you should learn about it.

Watching war movies isn't about being girlie or boylie (?!), it is about understanding the past, making sure it won't happen again.

War is part of my life, every day.

I educate people about the past, war is horrible but also very interesting as it brings both the worst and best in humans come to the surface.

I know you do Jo, and that is great.  No, all women have to be like me or are like me.  But, I find war movies depressing, and I am and always will be anti-war.  I have no interest in watching war movies.  I am a girlie girl, and I'd rather spend my time watching the jewelry channels or decorating shows.  It's who I am.  I have always been a girlie girl.  I love beauty, fashion, the gorgeous artistry of well-made antiques.  There are many things I love about history, but war is not one of them, although war is often in the background in many movies, isn't it?  However, I don't watch those what I call "blast 'em up war movies".  I'd rather surround myself with beauty whenever and whereever I can.  Even when I go to a museum, I avoid the war stuff.   I'd rather go look at the pretty stuff.

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Mayalily

Mayalily

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Jo Yardley wrote:

Sometimes you have to watch, read or learn stuff you'd rather avoid.

Why?  I don't believe I have any power to change anything.  I wanted to protest the Iraq war, but there were no protests near me.  So, I just lived with it every day, though thought it an unjust and unscrupulous war by Bush and Cheney and their oil cartel.   Why should I watch and learn it when there is nothing I can do to change it?  I just don't like it, and especially the Hollywood war movies are so glorified that's it's just some stupid Hollywood formula movie.  As far as ancient war documentaries, I find them boring, and would rather watch the jewelry channel as I at one time designed my own jewelry and I consider jewelry a true art form, so I'd rather study jewelry including it's folklore and it's design.  I currently don't design any jewelry, but I love watching what certain designers do, as art is a huge part of who I am, and there are only so many hours in a day, so it's called learning to use your time wisely.  Also, I enjoy my own interests and hobbies with my time budget.  Time is not endless, so sometimes we have to pick and chose what we do with our time and how it benefits us personally. 

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