--A E Housman, 1936, "Here Dead Lie We"
To save your world, you asked this man to die:
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?
--W H Auden, 1953, "Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier"*****
Memorial Day, 2011
Memorial Day, 2012
Memorial Day, 2013
“Where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath.” --Jonathan Swift
--A E Housman, 1936, "Here Dead Lie We"
--W H Auden, 1953, "Epitaph for the Unknown Soldier"*****
Comments are welcome and discussion is open and encouraged. I expect that there will be some occasional disagreement (heaven knows why) or welcome clarification and embellishment, and such are freely solicited.
Consider that all such comments are in the public domain and are expected to be polite, even while contentious. I will delete comments which are ad hominem, as well as those needlessly profane beyond the realm of sputtering incredulity in reaction to some inanity, unless attributed to a quote.
Links to other sources are fine so long as they further the argument or expand on the discussion. All such comments and links are the responsibility of the commenter, and the mere presence herein does not necessarily constitute my agreement.
I will also delete all comments that link to a commercial site.
Few words, powerful meaning. As it should be.
ReplyDeleteNobody asked him to die, not even the pols who created the wars (or our participation in some one else's wars) for their own reasons, hardly in defense of "freedom." More likely in defense of their careers. Whether conscripted or volunteered the troop sure wasn't planning on dying, either. There comes a point where all this poetic hurrah is just so much meaningless twaddle. Intended to make meaningful what was more often than not a thoroughly meaningless event.
ReplyDeleteIf you insist, as do many these days, that their death had no meaning, allow for those who freely lent themselves to a major endeavor and fully understood the inherent risk. In the military they found another family, a primal draw that makes sense to our species. I've known both types, and I have no argument that will sway either one.
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