Shouts From Down Under

Anyone can be a better person, but be the impossible..?

How soon do we fail at getting along?

Memories are very short in the human realm. Only a few decades since The Great War that my grandparents told us about, or wouldn't talk about at all.
Then there was the 2nd World War. The parents of my generation passed on memories of that one, perhaps in more detail, clearer and closer to home; horrors, and they too probably didn't tell us a lot, figuring it best to be bright and glad today.

No use speaking of the past.



They wanted to forget that past so badly. They knew. Yes. They knew it was so terrible, sad, indescribably heartbreaking, robbing, baffling, grieving. No, best forgotten and let lie, like the soldiers buried in the bomb crater mud in some far off field.

Only the flowers, waving their lovely blooms in the wind there, know the place.

Flowers and spirits don't say much.

And so we feel so powerless to stop all this happening again. Mothers weeping as their patriotic sons enlist. Who knows if they'll be back? Their fathers, if they have one still at home, will probably sign up later too, when the young and fit are used up, when the bravest and angriest want to defend their country, want to fight some cause or other. There's not a lot of choice when their land is being taken away.

We feel something should be done; us ordinary folks, who in this era have a way to express these feelings and thoughts to people all over the globe. Yes, our musings and uneasiness at global "events" can be written, read, tweeted, posted, retweeted, shared, sent, favourited, passed around and thought about by many others.

Will those thoughts finally end up read by those in charge of armies? What will they think when they read how some little guy in a backwater place like Tasmania, doesn't like the idea of someone taking something that doesn't belong to them, by force?
Would they even bother reading anything? Do they care about soft, sensitive people living in paradise some distant place overseas that they've never seen? Somewhere where you rarely see a dead body first hand. Somewhere you don't even walk down the street with a gun unless it's covered and in a proper case, and taken straight to wherever is absolutely necessary.

And what about army blokes? Soldiers themselves? They know it shouldn't be happening, whatever side they fight for. They know the killing, you might as well say it, murdering, isn't right and is pointless. This fight, that battle, this war, that invasion, this victory, that advance, this retreat, this defeat. Why bother. Isn't it all just a scam in the name of something or other? Something versus something.

Isn't it just bullies versus people who want to live in peace? Yes, all countries have bullies. And all countries have many many locals who just want to get on living quietly in peace, happily working honest days in the sun with their families.

One blog entry like this one won't do anything either. But at least I feel a bit better. What I can try to do, I've done. That is, express how I feel, as an ordinary bloke, living a normal life, trying to make ends meet for his wife and kids, pay off a mortgage, keep the car running, and be thankful at the end of the day to the one who we believe provides our needs.

I acknowledge not everyone feels that way.

But I'd say that most if not all people know that soldiers shooting each other, most likely relatives anyway, maybe even family, yet on opposite sides of a political landscape, most everybody knows that this won't achieve anything. There will be many killed. A side will take land. Another side will loose land.

In another decade, another time it will go the other way. Those in charge today will be dead in a few short years. Their big ideas and sense of entitlement will fall into dust, just like everything else that seems so vitally important right now.

Yes, with enough self discipline, any of us can be a better person. But to forgive our enemy, even love them, well, that's impossible, without help. Many people don't want any help, thinking they can manage those human battles by themselves. How successful are they?
The state of the people of earth is a living testament to failure to even get on with those we love, let alone our enemies.

What a depressing bunch of thoughts when they are written down like this. Especially when we see the beginnings of another World War coming. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and frightening.



When our young strapping sons, and our lovely smiling daughters are taken by the shells, bullets, wounds, what will we do for comfort, then? Who cares what land belongs to whom? Why not just leave others in peace? Saying goodbye is never easy. Words can't tell the story of pain in a mother's heart, or the agony behind a dad's gruff voice. His bad leg seems to need a lot of attention just now.



I think what it all boils down to, is that there are some people, particularly right at the top of the political ladder, who are a bit slow up top. History teaches the least brainiest of us all that war and killing isn't the answer to macho pride and forceful stealing.

Every bullet you fire, and every order you issue from the pinnacles of power, don't you ever forget, or try to justify this fact.

You are as good as murdering someone's child, or parent.
You are murdering your fellow man. Yes, your brother, or sister. And for what? A handful of dust, and a few minutes of fame.

Well, enjoy life while it lasts.

You'll be that dust soon enough. As for fame, that's as illusory as the steam from a freshly boiled kettle. Reminds me.

I could murder a nice hot cup of tea.

Sparky