11am November 11th 1918

Keith

Moderator
In the midst of all your endless circular political ramblings ad infintum ad nauseum, I hope you guys can find a moment to remember just why it is you have the freedom to spout such useless rhetoric.

Least we forget....


Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)



"Dulce et Decorum Est "


Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! -- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under I green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, --
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

(My emphasis on the last line)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK6TWpPY52g"]Ypres Menin Gate Last Post - YouTube[/ame]
 
Well said Keith, but may I add:

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, sed dulcius pro patria vivere, et dulcissimum pro patria bibere. Ergo, bibamus pro salute patriae."
 
Everyone owes it to themselves to visit the historic sites at Verdun, including the ossuary which holds the bones of some 100,000-plus unknown soldiers, and the WWI museum at Ypres, Belgium, near Flanders Field.

Among other things, it puts today's casualties into perspective; the entire death toll from our outing in Afghanistan would constitute 'a rather good morning with only light casualties so far today' back then....:stunned:
 

Keith

Moderator
Everyone owes it to themselves to visit the historic sites at Verdun, including the ossuary which holds the bones of some 100,000-plus unknown soldiers, and the WWI museum at Ypres, Belgium, near Flanders Field.

Among other things, it puts today's casualties into perspective; the entire death toll from our outing in Afghanistan would constitute 'a rather good morning with only light casualties so far today' back then....:stunned:

It is indeed a highly sobering experience, and many contemporary 'realities' that you might have hitherto held to be important, pale into virtual obscurity.

Putting jingosim aside - one of the 'things that has to be done' before you die.
 
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