A colleague's grandfather was part of the French resistance in WWII. He worked as a newspaper delivery boy to the German HQ but his lead responsibilities were running arms and relaying information picked up from the headquarters in Paris. Couldn't help thinking, he must have been a teenager. You would expect that such a person would have become hard and embittered after all the death and dying he would have seen around him. But suprisingly, his belief is that you can't hate the German army men. When you are at war, the men on the other side of the fence are the enemy and you fight them for the honour of your country, which is what the Germans did. He does, however, maintain a distinction between the army men on the battlefield and the officials of concentration camps, who can have no defense.
As it happens with most of our conversations, at this point of the discussion, we meandered off to the Nazi concentration camp defense of 'I was only following orders and I didn't know what I was doing'. It has been my thinking that we are impacted by stories of WWII because of the numbers involved and the methodology chosen to exterminate. However all armies rape and plunder and there is absolutely no exception to the rule. Tweedledum ended the discussion when he said - 'Every army may do it but every army man does not. We respect those who don't.'
The conversation seemed deeper at a time, when all we hear is news of those dead in Lebanon, with no idea of who is right and who is wrong. Hasn't Israel forced itself on Palestinian land? What right do they have to be there - the fact that Moses led them to the Promised Land? But just when a solution could have been reached, isn't it an act of terrorism to sabotage the peace gestures. What is right or wrong? Sitting here in front of my computer I can say that the Isaraeli reaction is completely out of proportion. It was just 3 soldiers. How many men, women and children will they kill for those 3 men? How many more will they displace from their homes? But, in my heart of hearts there is that little voice - what if it was my country and my soldiers? What if one of those soldiers was my father, brother, husband? Would I be saintly enough to care how many died across the border? I give myself the benefit of doubt right now - surely I would care. I wouldn't condone this extreme a reaction....but, I still wonder....
As it happens with most of our conversations, at this point of the discussion, we meandered off to the Nazi concentration camp defense of 'I was only following orders and I didn't know what I was doing'. It has been my thinking that we are impacted by stories of WWII because of the numbers involved and the methodology chosen to exterminate. However all armies rape and plunder and there is absolutely no exception to the rule. Tweedledum ended the discussion when he said - 'Every army may do it but every army man does not. We respect those who don't.'
The conversation seemed deeper at a time, when all we hear is news of those dead in Lebanon, with no idea of who is right and who is wrong. Hasn't Israel forced itself on Palestinian land? What right do they have to be there - the fact that Moses led them to the Promised Land? But just when a solution could have been reached, isn't it an act of terrorism to sabotage the peace gestures. What is right or wrong? Sitting here in front of my computer I can say that the Isaraeli reaction is completely out of proportion. It was just 3 soldiers. How many men, women and children will they kill for those 3 men? How many more will they displace from their homes? But, in my heart of hearts there is that little voice - what if it was my country and my soldiers? What if one of those soldiers was my father, brother, husband? Would I be saintly enough to care how many died across the border? I give myself the benefit of doubt right now - surely I would care. I wouldn't condone this extreme a reaction....but, I still wonder....
The UN must have been created to control the military reactions of countries in various scenarios. The only thing that this episode shows is that the UN is one of the most redundant organizations possible. How many more slaughters do we need...My Lai, Srebernica, Sabra, Shattila and the countless others that I am not mentioning here. I wanted to put pictures of the bombing at Vietnam, Sabra and the countless others that have affected me over the years but somehow I cant bring myself to do that. I take a look at them and feel so depressed.
This seems so much better and promising. Music always makes one feel better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNqMGsVWDEk
And the one picture I will forever remember of the triumphant human spirit.
It may have lost then but in subsequent years, all we are reading about is the economic growth of China and its impact on the rest of the world. So be it - if this is the way to feed your people and give them a better life. There is always a beginning somewhere......
This seems so much better and promising. Music always makes one feel better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNqMGsVWDEk
And the one picture I will forever remember of the triumphant human spirit.
It may have lost then but in subsequent years, all we are reading about is the economic growth of China and its impact on the rest of the world. So be it - if this is the way to feed your people and give them a better life. There is always a beginning somewhere......
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