BAYLOR: Forgotten fields in Flanders
By all such standards, the Great War was especially horrible. The specific horror of this conflict, which eventually came to be known as World War I out of a contextual necessity to keep our historical accountings of human suffering clearly ordered, surely represents societal innocence shattered on an unfathomably massive scale.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Today's Tribune column: "Forgotten fields in Flanders."
There's another, oddly connected anniversary coming on November 9, which will mark 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell. The armistice in 1918 didn't end the Great War. The fall of the wall might have.
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4 comments:
I'm left nearly speechless
I don't know if anyone else noticed the "Jeers"?
"... to New Albany City Councilman Steve Price for his lone abstention from voting on the city’s master plan. Maybe if the next election proves to be another difficult decision, he can abstain from that as well.
— Tribune Publisher Steve Kozarovich"
Well done!
I'm with Cristopher. Absolutely spellbinding.
My great-uncle used to tell a story of skimming coagulated blood from the tops of muddy hoof prints to get at the water beneath.
For a long time, that was all I knew about World War I. But really, what else does one need to know to choose otherwise? Rings and rings of tombstones marking years not lived? Names of the dead carved into a wall that forces you to see your own reflection while you read them?
One simple rule: If you're not personally willing to go to the frontlines for the duration, shut your mouth about the necessity of war and how advocating for it is patriotic. Anything else is delusional, self-congratulating bullshit.
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