I have been watching
the BBC2 TV series, Generation War: Our
Mothers, Our Fathers that follows the lives of five German friends during
World War II. It is an apt reminder of not only the horrors of war but also how
the real victims of any conflict are those ordinary men and women, on both
sides, struggling to survive and left to pick up the pieces both as it
progresses and when it is all over. Events in various parts of the world today
- Syria and Ukraine to name but two - are a cruel reminder of history’s
penchant for repeating itself.
This year, 2014, is the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. It is especially
disturbing, therefore, even if only (dangerous) rhetoric, that President Arseny
Yatseniuk of Ukraine should be accusing Russia’s President Putin of trying to start
World War III. He also warned
the crisis in his country could spread throughout the rest of Europe. We may like to think such a thing could never happen, but history tells us differently.
People fight, initially at
least, because they believe or are led to believe they are in the right and any
opposing force has to be in the wrong. It is one of humanity’s greater
tragedies that there are at least two sides to every conflict, and that we
believe or are led to believe we are free to choose if only for freedom’s own
sake. Yet, win or lose, the Mandarins of Power, for all they may well undergo a
cosmetic transformation, remain free to
stoke the ashes, penetrate the dust, and go about their business in much the
same way as before…
Last but never least, of course, many if not most of us find ourselves at war with the inner self for one reason or another, peace of mind attainable only at a price we are not always willing to pay.
WAR AND PEACE, ELEMENTS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
Ready to fight,
kill or be killed for the
right
to live, be free,
and let others, too, go free
from whatever cage
imposed on us by powers that
be
last glimpsed haunting
shadowy corridors,
responsibility
taking cover in morality
In the thick of a war
against the inner self,
denying
mind, body, and spirit,
intent only upon survival
of the fittest,
no time to consider the weak
and vulnerable except
to defend a moral high
ground
for their sakes
Battles lost or won,
history will make out it was
all
for the best
in the longer run of
humanity’s
kinder attributes,
winners and losers joining
forces
to create a better world,
take a more constructive view
on
bettering its betters
Ashes, to ashes, century to
century;
opposing forces, same cover story
Copyright R. N. Taber 2014
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