War. It gobbles up fresh young lives and resources and hope and happiness, blasts apart homes and cities and forests, and in return, it gives pain and suffering and death and blitzed landscapes and shattered families. I know some wars have to be, I understand there are often valid moral reasons for embarking upon the wholesale slaughter of other humans, I can comprehend the ingenuity that goes into developing amazing new weapons or strategies to maim and kill others before they maim and kill you, I can admire the stoicism and courage and heroism of those who obey orders for a greater good, and I can honour the memories of those who have died in so many campaigns throughout history, but really, the very heart of the matter, the incontestable truth of war is that millions upon millions of unique individuals die horrifically in terrible conditions far from their loves ones. War is humanity at its most contradictory and perverse.
I’ve just been to see
Beneath Hill 60, hence my tirade. In the theatre, I kept wanting to shout at the screen, "Keep your head down!". Each death was gut wrenching. And on the drive home, I saw people preparing for tomorrow’s ANZAC Day events.
So I baked a couple of cakes (it was supposed to be just one cake but...). Soon, I’ll watch the pilot episode of
Stargate Universe as I eat a slice or two, and try not to think about mud and corpses and stupid wars.
I’ve just been to see Beneath Hill 60, hence my tirade. In the theatre, I kept wanting to shout at the screen, "Keep your head down!". Each death was gut wrenching. And on the drive home, I saw people preparing for tomorrow’s ANZAC Day events.
So I baked a couple of cakes (it was supposed to be just one cake but...). Soon, I’ll watch the pilot episode of Stargate Universe as I eat a slice or two, and try not to think about mud and corpses and stupid wars.
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