(no subject)
At 11:00am on November 11, 1918 - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the guns fell silent.
When they had begun to fire, in August of 1914, crowds in every major capital in Europe had cheered, waved their nation's flag, and marched to war firm in the conviction that God was on their side.
15 million died and another 22 million were maimed in the battles that followed.
Nor were those deaths the only ones that could be laid at the feet of this terrible human cataclysm.
A weakened and weary world would then fall prey to a worldwide pandemic, the Spanish Flu, that killed another 50-100 million people in the 18 months immediately following the war.
The "War to End All Wars" planted the seeds of World War II with its 60 million dead.
Korea, Viet Nam and a dozen lesser wars also can be said to have sprung from the aftermath of a war that saw the beginning of the collapse of the colonial empires of Europe and Communism prevail in Russia to eventually spread its malignant presence in every corner of the planet.
And all this from the horrible folly that comes from the worship of guns, violence, militarism and the State.
Yes, we must be willing to defend our liberties.
Yes, its better to live free than a slave.
Yes, we ought not to submit to those who would strip us of our rights.
But let us remember to protect ourselves with cool calculation that fully comprehends the price of doing so.
When they had begun to fire, in August of 1914, crowds in every major capital in Europe had cheered, waved their nation's flag, and marched to war firm in the conviction that God was on their side.
15 million died and another 22 million were maimed in the battles that followed.
Nor were those deaths the only ones that could be laid at the feet of this terrible human cataclysm.
A weakened and weary world would then fall prey to a worldwide pandemic, the Spanish Flu, that killed another 50-100 million people in the 18 months immediately following the war.
The "War to End All Wars" planted the seeds of World War II with its 60 million dead.
Korea, Viet Nam and a dozen lesser wars also can be said to have sprung from the aftermath of a war that saw the beginning of the collapse of the colonial empires of Europe and Communism prevail in Russia to eventually spread its malignant presence in every corner of the planet.
And all this from the horrible folly that comes from the worship of guns, violence, militarism and the State.
Yes, we must be willing to defend our liberties.
Yes, its better to live free than a slave.
Yes, we ought not to submit to those who would strip us of our rights.
But let us remember to protect ourselves with cool calculation that fully comprehends the price of doing so.