War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Silence is interrupted with wails of pain. Some stand alone, wringing their hands incessantly, a nervous stress sign. We see others clinging to loved ones, clinging to hope that the news is wrong, that events are not real, that it was a dream. We see pictures and photos and news reports showing the ones that have been left. They are left to consider whether the life lost should ever have been lost.
Is it all vanity? Can we ever put a value on life?
Patriotic dribble is verbalised by government officials, clergy, defence spokesman. For King and country. For peace. For freedom. For evil to be suppressed. For good to prosper.
Deep down we know in many cases of war, conflict, death, that there is one left standing and as a direct result there is also one left behind. If we are on the 'right' side we celebrate when it is "us" left ahead in the never ending game. However, when it is "our" own that must come back in the dreaded wooden box, we curse the animals, the immoral enemy for what they have done.
My experience of war is minimal and can never even touch on the horrors that are left behind and endured, by those who are fighting, the civilians who are caught in the middle and the ones left. The ones who are left to rebuild their homes physically and those who are left to rebuild their lives emotionally. Peace has always come at a cost. Freedom is not free, but comes at a sacrifice.
My children are at an age where they now ask me about the conflicts around the world, the war. They talk about the events as though they are fiction from a distant land...and I think with naivety how lucky I am to be able to tuck them in at night with a sense of security and in some ways living in my own deluded fantasy that these events are in some distant land.
However, there is a part of me, a small part or me, that is reminded to not take this freedom for granted. It is only for a time that freedom can exist. That peace can exist. Did the mothers in 1913 think they'd be farewelling their sons in 1914? From the Olympic games being held in Berlin in 1936 realise that most of Europe would become part of the Third reich by 1942. Did we expect to send our boys to compulsory military service in Vietnam? Then we have have the continued conflict in Africa, Timor, Iraq and anywhere else in the world. Did a mother give birth moments ago and think "I shall be giving my child up for war in 18 years?".
It is but for a time that peace can exist, and I must not forget that although I walk through my life with a routine that is not plagued with war, hatred, pain; it does not mean that it will never be at my doorstep. I will always be grateful for those who actively seek peace, seek righteousness, seek justice, seek integrity, seek truth, seek freedom. All abstract concepts that I believe are used to try and make this world a better place. Also, I remember the ones who are left who must live in fear for the loved ones who actively go out to ensure that human rights are maintained or restored, I remember what they are giving up or have given up. I acknowledge their sacrifice, the sacrifice of the ones left.
The Mothers by Kathe Kollwitz