Better to die free than live a slave? Nat Turner led an uprising in Virginia in 1831, directing his fellow slaves to break for freedom and "kill all whites." They killed 57 before he was recaptured and executed. He killed as a free man, but died as a slave once more.
Mahatma Gandhi outlived Adolf Hitler, but not by much. One died for peace, the other for war and conquest. Is there a Heaven and a Hell? Reincarnation? The Void?
If peace is better than war, why are humans so often in a state of war?
Assassinated in the wake of the creation of India and Pakistan.
Richard III: man of conquest and war. The best version of his tale via Shakespeare I can think of is set in fascist England --Ian McKellen in Richard III (1995). "My kingdom for a horse!" In this case, a black Jeep, if memory serves. Lived by the sword, died by the sword.
Groucho Marx in the great anarchic anti-war movie, Duck Soup (1933). A brilliant wacky satire, it didn't prevent the rise of the Nazis or the outbreak of World War II.
After all is said and done, perhaps group therapy would be helpful -- and who better than Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi in the The Sopranos for treatment? Didn't work with Tony, either.
Enjoy the rest of the splendid little dirty war. It ain't gonna be over anytime soon, and most of us won't be asked to do anything but cheer, buy gas and shop.
Today's Rune: Breakthrough.
Birthdays: Richard III, Nat Turner, Mohandas Gandhi, Groucho Marx, Annie Leibovitz, Lorraine Bracco.
In lieu of peace, ciao!
7 comments:
Ian McCellan's version of Richard III is brilliant, inspired and terrifying!
The 20th century had a way of killing it's men of peace-- Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, etc.
Hey, I'm car pooling to work. It's the least I can do. If I live closer to work, I'd ride a bicycle (warm months of course).
I don't know exactly what else to do other than write and speak out to people I meet(funny I haven't met one person who voted for bush in either election.)I have a head full of statistics and memories of Viet Nam combat veterans and what they were like in the hospital in Philadelphia where I was recovering from a fractured elbow. And later at the old Miami and they only had to do 12 months and the PTSD was rampant among them.
Can it be any different for my brothers and sisters coming back from Iraq?
You're the librarian Erik you tell me how many years has the world known peace in the last 6000? Bet the number is under a hundred.
I spoke out against Bush ever since he was a governor in Texas and executed more convicted offenders than any governor before or since. He honestly believes he is doing Gods work.
He sees him self as St. George or somebody battling not human evil but spiritual which unfortunately he hasn't a clue about. All he has accomplished is another generation of cynics which will live off the grid as much as possible and thereby getting refused medical and psychological help they will most definitely need when they finally come home for good God willing physically and mentally whole.
I have to say this not on blogspot but at another place I blogged I was roundly vilified by people I have known for near on a decade for condemning this war before it ever started. Of course there was not a veteran among them. I was never a combat veteran but that broken elbow opened my eyes to combat and what it does to mens bodies and minds.
Pray for Peace
mark
"All We Have Is Now" is all we ever really have. Carpe Diem and all of that. Perhaps, Hobbes was right, fear of every man as one's potential murderer is at the root of every national insecurity hence the endless pursuit of war.
Liked your comment about "cheer, buy gas, and shop." So true. War has become a reality show now. Not particularly well rated. Idol beats it every time.
Thanks all for the comments!
Walking Man -- everyone in my "circle" -- including my entire extended family -- was against G.W. Bush-Cheney, thought WMD was b.s. cover for invading Iraq -- figured they were in it for access to resources, and, as you say, money. If not land, then property and ownership -- and excuse for plunder and mayhem.
I think some people, especially in the corporate world, are convinced that a state of war is better.
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