Life during Wartime.
I’m not exactly sure how we got onto the subject but my Mother mentioned one of her wartime experiences over the Christmas break. Although she was only 3 when the Second World War started she was 9 when it ended and remembers vividly watching a V-1 flying bomb buzzing its way over the Liverpool cityscape when it’s engine cut out. This was the time when everyone nearby took whatever cover they could find. Buzz-bombs were designed in such a way that when the timer kicked in the fuel to the engine was cut off causing the device to fall out of the sky and explode on contact with the ground. As they carried a one-ton payload it made one heck of a bang and a sizable crater.
It’s hard to imagine, even in these so-called dangerous times, a 9 year old girl watching death fall from the sky on houses in the distance. I suppose that we adapt to just about anything given time but even so I hope that no one reading this will need to get used to such things in the future. When children are placed in the front lines of any conflict we are doing something seriously wrong. If we must fight, and unfortunately it seems like we must from time to time, then we must not involve the innocent in our conflicts no matter what the provocation. If we must have war, and I do so wish that we could turn our backs on that distasteful activity, then the very least we could do is spare the children of that particular man-made horror. It doesn’t seem too much to ask.
5 comments:
I can't help but be reminded of Stings's song, Russians. "I hope the (insert world power here) love their children too."
This made me think of all the rogue groups in Africa and the Middle East recruiting/forcing and brainwashing children to fight their ridiculous battles for them. They are the lowest of the low.
Unfortunately, modern warfare almost always involves civilian populations. Urban warfare is especially brutal given the large numbers of people in small spaces.
Your post made me think of the lyrics to The Gunner's Dream off The Final Cut (appropriately because it's about the effects of war on people)
The Gunner's Dream (Waters)
Floating down through the clouds
Memories come rushing up to meet me now.
In the space between the heavens
and in the corner of some foreign field
I had a dream.
I had a dream.
Good-bye Max.
Good-bye Ma.
After the service when you're walking slowly to the car
And the silver in her hair shines in the cold November air
You hear the tolling bell
And touch the silk in your lapel
And as the tear drops rise to meet the comfort of the band
You take her frail hand
And hold on to the dream.
A place to stay
"Oi! A real one ..."
Enough to eat
Somewhere old heroes shuffle safely down the street
Where you can speak out loud
About your doubts and fears
And what's more no-one ever disappears
You never hear their standard issue kicking in your door.
You can relax on both sides of the tracks
And maniacs don't blow holes in bandsmen by remote control
And everyone has recourse to the law
And no-one kills the children anymore.
And no one kills the children anymore.
Night after night
Going round and round my brain
His dream is driving me insane.
In the corner of some foreign field
The gunner sleeps tonight.
What's done is done.
We cannot just write off his final scene.
Take heed of his dream.
Take heed.
Your mother's experiences speak, to a large part, to the differences in how the average Brit and the average American treat war. Over here, despite being in one war or another for about the last 60 years, we've never had to fight them on our soil. If we had to sacrifice our homes, our schools, our cities, our children, we might be more reluctant to get in wars. It's an abstraction for us. It's like a game of Risk or chess.
mike said: I can't help but be reminded of Stings's song, Russians. "I hope the (insert world power here) love their children too."
Unfortunately I don't think that there's enough love to go round....
V V said: This made me think of all the rogue groups in Africa and the Middle East recruiting/forcing and brainwashing children to fight their ridiculous battles for them. They are the lowest of the low.
Indeed.
laura said: Unfortunately, modern warfare almost always involves civilian populations. Urban warfare is especially brutal given the large numbers of people in small spaces.
Yes, it does. But I contend that it shouldn't. Fighting in built up areas or 'amongst the people' is *inevitably* going to result in civilian casualties. Although it is arguable that, for example, the Israeli Forces where not activiely targetting civilians in Gaza it was probably impossible to avoid those casulties considering the built-up nature of the Gaza Strip. Such acts should be considered beyond the pale and completely unacceptable by all parties.
dbackdad said: If we had to sacrifice our homes, our schools, our cities, our children, we might be more reluctant to get in wars. It's an abstraction for us. It's like a game of Risk or chess.
Very true. I'm guessing that the US would have a much different attitude to war if your country was on the receiving end from time to time.
Although - thankfully - I couldn't share either of my parents war experiences (and hopefully never will) I've grown up in a country where bomb threats and bomb explosions have been a fact of life for the past 30 years or so (and long before the present so-called War on Terror). It does, at times, feel quite surreal.....
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