I started posting the flowers as I was watching the local morning news. As the photos posted the anchor started to talk about three Minnesota men who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. A week ago three others were laid to rest after being killed in Afghanistan. Six more promising lives turned to dust.
It seems we have become so accustomed to our occupation of Iraq and our presence in Afghanistan that we hardly consider it any more. I have seen the faces of six young Minnesotan men who will never smile again. Never tell someone how much they love them. Never fulfill the promise of their lives. For what?
So I posted the flowers anyway. Beauty among the detritus of a morality gone wrong.
8 comments:
Wow - the juxtapostion of beauty and life against useless death - can't get much more powerful than that!
I so agree a morality off the rails, still trying to impose its idealized morality on the rest of the world. Instead of "how the west was won", it has become "how the west came undone".
Instead of "how the west was won", it has become "how the west came undone".
This is a profound statement and I fear, true.
What a powerful post. This is a case where less was more. Your words (combined with your lovely photos) stuck a chord with me...and probably many others.
You just shouldn't get me started on this one.Why our idiot of a Prime Minister followed the U.S into this idiocy I have never fathomed. The ignorance of other customs & ways of thinking, as valid as democracy even if antipathitical to our own world view, simply astonished me. And then every one is oh so surprised that our troops aren't welcome! Honestly. I believe we are bringing ours home. About time too.
I wanted to weep. Ganeida, I read in the paper today that Great Britain & Australia have removed all of their troops last week. It seems we are alone.
Sandra: I hope your boys come home soon too. My oldest is in the armed forces doing bizarre things with computer technology & while he isn't likely to ever get stuck on the front line of anywhere I have a very vested interest in my government not picking any fights. My thoughts on this matter are long & complicated & clouded by issues that track all the way back to WWII & it just seems we have learnt NOTHING from the past ~ which is just hugely frustrating. Stupidity & greed seem to be the name of the game when it comes to foreign policy.
I read and am speechless. there are no words that can express that which I feel. I am grateful and horrified at the sacrifice of those who have lost lives, limbs and time and for the families at home. I consider it my duty and an honor to thank every veteran and serviceman/woman I meet. I let them know they are in my prayers, forever.
The service men & women don't make policy, they carry it out. Some agree with it, some don't. Most simply do their job. There is a separation between the people in the field and those behind the desks playing chess with lives.
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