Yes, after always thinking no relatives had fought and died in the wars I was recently surprised to discover several - all being young men who hadn't married and had no children. The phrase, "we will remember them", now rings hollow as I wonder how many others have been forgotten too. A terrible waste.
Somehow, our species has got to stop sending our children out to kill their children in the belief that it will somehow,bring lasting peace. It does not. It never has & almost certainly never will.
War benefit's arms manufacturers, the boot makers, the makers of uniforms, the builders of tanks. And undertakers.
We have to get beyond this deliberately maiming & killing those 'other' people. We have to do better, to have more maturity & understanding, more compassion.
Most certainly we should, but I believe that while we have humans, its a vanishingly small probability. Just recall a couple of relevant quotes
"WW1 shocking as it was, will at least be the war to end all wars"... Unknown, but several
"Nobody ever started a war thinking they will lose" .... von Clausewitz
What possible mechanism, policy or strategy would end the killings, and how would it be implemented across the planet ? ? I cannot begin to conceive of one, but others might.
When I joined Aussie relatives to visit the war museum in Canberra I was struck by the valorisation of war there. Is that our real problem - that war is equated with patriotism? War is pretty pointless when you consider that eventually, after much killing and destruction, the leaders will sit down and come up with a resolution. The only beneficiaries are those who supply the tools of war.
Wage Peace, is a great motto, Bryan! I'm with you. Sadly, the young boys who went off to WWI had been given the image of, "What a lark! Let's have an adventure and be home by Christmas!" Needless to say, many of the under-age, as with so many 'little brothers', wanted to join the 'fun', so lied about their ages, and the officials seem to have 'turned a blind eye'. Needless to say, when they got to the 'other side' and found themselves wallowing in mud, badly fed, badly led (!) by upper-crust 'play-way' soldiers who'd been promoted way, way beyond their abilities, they were stuck - literally - and simply had to 'face it'.
There is so much to be learned from the lessons of all warfare, not only from WWI or WWII, but the people who make the ultimate decisions on armed conflict sit (literally) a very long way from the front lines, and never come face to face with the awful, messy, bloody truth of what they inflict on enemy and ally alike! Those left behind must drag themselves homeward, where they find only limited understanding, and therefore feel unable to speak of the horrors they've seen and experienced, while trying to heal not only broken bodies, but even more harrowing, broken spirits.
Meantime, the absence of whole generations from families causes permanent damage that can never be fully healed, as children grow up without fathers, uncles, cousins, and women struggle alone to raise children, and try to fill the 'gaps' left by so many menfolk. Boys are short of models on 'how to be men'; their mothers can only do so much, and that passes into subsequent generations, perhaps quite subtly, but there all the same. The effects of war do not end on the day of armistice!
Militarism must be constantly identified in the symbolism and especially jingoism around militarization, alliances and coercion or undue influence in recruitment of the young. The style of remembrance ceremonial must fit the claimed conflict prevention management and peace keeping interventions, with emphadis on proactive longterm prevention through demilitarisat zone agreements.Alternative policy development through increased support for such as the peace and conflict studies centre in dunedin.
I recently read, actually listened to audiobook, Michael Palin's 'Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire' and found the story eerily familiar in a family context.
Except Gallipolli was an absolute debacle, sheer stupidity. We should remember that too and the absolute bloody waste that war is.
Yes. My great uncle, dead at 17 because he lied about his age, is buried there. What a bloody waste.
Yes, after always thinking no relatives had fought and died in the wars I was recently surprised to discover several - all being young men who hadn't married and had no children. The phrase, "we will remember them", now rings hollow as I wonder how many others have been forgotten too. A terrible waste.
Somehow, our species has got to stop sending our children out to kill their children in the belief that it will somehow,bring lasting peace. It does not. It never has & almost certainly never will.
War benefit's arms manufacturers, the boot makers, the makers of uniforms, the builders of tanks. And undertakers.
We have to get beyond this deliberately maiming & killing those 'other' people. We have to do better, to have more maturity & understanding, more compassion.
We have to end wars.
Most certainly we should, but I believe that while we have humans, its a vanishingly small probability. Just recall a couple of relevant quotes
"WW1 shocking as it was, will at least be the war to end all wars"... Unknown, but several
"Nobody ever started a war thinking they will lose" .... von Clausewitz
What possible mechanism, policy or strategy would end the killings, and how would it be implemented across the planet ? ? I cannot begin to conceive of one, but others might.
Lest we forget ...
We will ... remember them
Amen
When I joined Aussie relatives to visit the war museum in Canberra I was struck by the valorisation of war there. Is that our real problem - that war is equated with patriotism? War is pretty pointless when you consider that eventually, after much killing and destruction, the leaders will sit down and come up with a resolution. The only beneficiaries are those who supply the tools of war.
Wage Peace, is a great motto, Bryan! I'm with you. Sadly, the young boys who went off to WWI had been given the image of, "What a lark! Let's have an adventure and be home by Christmas!" Needless to say, many of the under-age, as with so many 'little brothers', wanted to join the 'fun', so lied about their ages, and the officials seem to have 'turned a blind eye'. Needless to say, when they got to the 'other side' and found themselves wallowing in mud, badly fed, badly led (!) by upper-crust 'play-way' soldiers who'd been promoted way, way beyond their abilities, they were stuck - literally - and simply had to 'face it'.
There is so much to be learned from the lessons of all warfare, not only from WWI or WWII, but the people who make the ultimate decisions on armed conflict sit (literally) a very long way from the front lines, and never come face to face with the awful, messy, bloody truth of what they inflict on enemy and ally alike! Those left behind must drag themselves homeward, where they find only limited understanding, and therefore feel unable to speak of the horrors they've seen and experienced, while trying to heal not only broken bodies, but even more harrowing, broken spirits.
Meantime, the absence of whole generations from families causes permanent damage that can never be fully healed, as children grow up without fathers, uncles, cousins, and women struggle alone to raise children, and try to fill the 'gaps' left by so many menfolk. Boys are short of models on 'how to be men'; their mothers can only do so much, and that passes into subsequent generations, perhaps quite subtly, but there all the same. The effects of war do not end on the day of armistice!
Lest we forget, but also, let us learn!
Militarism must be constantly identified in the symbolism and especially jingoism around militarization, alliances and coercion or undue influence in recruitment of the young. The style of remembrance ceremonial must fit the claimed conflict prevention management and peace keeping interventions, with emphadis on proactive longterm prevention through demilitarisat zone agreements.Alternative policy development through increased support for such as the peace and conflict studies centre in dunedin.
I recently read, actually listened to audiobook, Michael Palin's 'Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire' and found the story eerily familiar in a family context.
https://www.robincapper.net/personal/2025/04/ernest-theodore-bock-my-michael-palins-uncle-harry.html