War is the enemy of life. It is as simple as that.War is terrible. It kills people with hunger, diseases; with bullets and bombs. But, basically, it kills with lies. From the oldest times, war has been a very important mean for kings and presidents to conquer other lands, to acquire the power they needed to dominate every single corner of the planet. But everything is a lie. Some men were obliged to enroll in the army, some were not. In fact, those who choose to be part of an army thought, and some still think, that they fight for their country, for their people. Actually, they fight for their rulers’ pleasure. They promised freedom, recognition, heroism. However, nothing of that comes. Soldiers just obtain suffering and death for reward.
It reminds me of a poem written by Wilfred Owen called ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’, which describes the First World War and says:
‘...and watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
his hanging face (...)
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood,
come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs (...)
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’
This last phrase could be roughly translated as "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country." I believe this poem expresses everything a soldier can feel when finally he confronts the war.
Çalra
Your words are mine, Çalra. I completely agree with you. And Owen's poem is really shocking. If I don't remember bad, he wrote it in a trench, when fighting as a soldier during de WWI, and died mad in England a few time later.
ReplyDeleteBlue Worm