Monday, August 4, 2014

Commemorating war

Whenever there is a commemoration of a war it is always very dignified, ordered and calm. It is so completely unlike war it always seems completely ridiculous to me.

If we want people to truly think what war was like maybe we should have commemorations which aren't so genteel. Just imagine if half way through the Last Post the bugler gets shot (theatrically of course) and as he is lying there all bloodied two other army dudes come along to drag him away. Then they get shot and one of them is screaming out in agony and the gathered crowd just has to wait and listen for the next two hours as he dies a slow death.

It would of course be horrible, but isn't that what we should be remembering?

All you ever hear is people talking about heroism and mateship and the founding of a nation. Why glorify it? Show people a video of a grieving mother who has just lost all her sons. Show them a video of a surgeon unsuccessfully trying to stem the bleeding from shrapnel wounds. Show them a cute puppy jumping on a land mine if that's what it takes.

For some reason our leaders keep sending us to wars. Maybe if our commemorations were a little less dignified and a lot more fucked up they might think about it a little differently.

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