01-21-2006, 10:48 AM
Hi John,
Yes, I like that poem also. It's not sanctimonious, but a hard warning against 'dreams of glory' and similar vanities. To kill for your loved ones I can fully understand, but to kill or die 'for the glory of the nation' is a hollow phrase, mis-used time and again by politicians over the last centuries.
And before anyone tells me that these words might be insulting to those who serve I hasted to add that they are not meant that way. But no-one asks the families of the fallen and the maimed what they think of it.
Which reminds me - a survivor of the London subway bombing spoke on a recent BBC documentary and revealed that - despite the hospital being situated across Whitehall - no member of the government had ever visited the victims. Which was very surprising to him because of all the bravado and big words uttered in the media by members of that same government. It was therefore all the more surprising that his wife (who lost both legs) was visited by her Prime Minister (she's from Australia) within a very short time.
The 'state' only glorifies its heroes when they have a use for them.
Yes, I like that poem also. It's not sanctimonious, but a hard warning against 'dreams of glory' and similar vanities. To kill for your loved ones I can fully understand, but to kill or die 'for the glory of the nation' is a hollow phrase, mis-used time and again by politicians over the last centuries.
And before anyone tells me that these words might be insulting to those who serve I hasted to add that they are not meant that way. But no-one asks the families of the fallen and the maimed what they think of it.
Which reminds me - a survivor of the London subway bombing spoke on a recent BBC documentary and revealed that - despite the hospital being situated across Whitehall - no member of the government had ever visited the victims. Which was very surprising to him because of all the bravado and big words uttered in the media by members of that same government. It was therefore all the more surprising that his wife (who lost both legs) was visited by her Prime Minister (she's from Australia) within a very short time.
The 'state' only glorifies its heroes when they have a use for them.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
