Unfortunately, mankind is always the agent of his own demise. As a species we just can't get along and history clearly shows that because of either politics, nationalism - and in the case of Hitler - genocide, ours is the most violent and uncontrollable species on the planet. Thankfully, like on D-Day, there are enough humans out there across the globe to do something about it.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s and it seems we are getting further away from the goal those soldiers died for at Normandy. I mean we still can't get along. The Middle East has been a disaster for the entire globe and American Foreign Policy has also created problems where none existed before. Take a look at the news and there are still a variety of wars going on at any one time,
I wasn't there but if I had to guess the men that fought and died on the beaches on June 6th, 1944 would say that we should remember why they did what they did and don't forget the fundamental values they fought and died for. What was at stake that day were the fundamental under-pinnings of modern societies - democracy, rule of law, human rights and freedom of speech. As we march on as a species, I hope we continue to remember what those guys died for.
We can't afford not to......
Sunday, June 7, 2009
D-Day Anniversary a Reminder to Everybody
The 65th Anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion to liberate Europe from the Nazis came and went this past Saturday. I was watching a number of documentaries, read some news articles and thought lots about the men who lost their lives on those beaches so long ago. I think war can be over glorified at times and sometimes, this is done for the wrong reasons but D-Day is not that at all. It is a focal point in the history of mankind, an event of such monumental scale and sacrifice that what happened there should and must be remembered. If only for the reason something like it doesn't have to happen again.
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Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Humans is that we learned SFA (nothing) from history. The unfathomable carnage that occurred on the shore at Normandy is slowly morphing into scenes from a Movie..like the opening of Saving Private Ryan..probably the best depiction of how insane it must have been.
ReplyDeleteWhat is equally insane is how German and Allied soldiers now gather to talk about how much they hated the War. Churchill warned the West about Hitler for a decade..one bullet could have saved 50 million lives!
Patton wanted to take on the Ruskies when they got to Berlin..instead millions were lost to the Cold War where the Superpowers fought by proxy in foreign lands.
Now the UN sits by and watches North Korea flex it's ballistic muscle..China does what? The West is totally asleep on what is going to erupt in the East.
Westerners are handcuffed their belief that Time is linear and marching towards preprophesied destinies..Eastern philosophy does not..it is Shit Happens and you adapt to whatever is thrown at you. Situational Ethics is the rule. They are not tied down to dueling by the Marquis de Queensbury Rules..they can do whatever, whenever to whomever..it's all about taking advantage of the situation and not playing by the rules?
Art Of War right.
Before the 1800s India and China were the largest Economies in the world..guess where we're headed now? The US and it's thinly veiled attempt to secure Oil and positioning is quickly losing it's mojo.
I didn't think that I would live to see it fall as quickly but apparently I just might live long enough to watch it become the last great Empire..before the new ones.
In 1900, our century, Britain was the ruling Superpower and nobody thought that would ever change either.
I'll shut up now...:)
Yeppers to that, regardless of how many more people we are able to kill with the new weapons of each subsequent war, we still don't seem to learn the lesson from the previous war's death toll. We need a human antidote for hate and another one for stupidity.
ReplyDeleteHell we took no time off ater WWII as we got quickly into Korea and that's still going on today. Pragmatism is needed in International Relations and we need to put all this National hubris aside and use our heads for once. The Americans are already a second rate super power - they just don't seem to relize it yet....China and India - clearly this century belongs to them and it will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
Where's Einstein when you need him?