11/10/10
The Price of Freedom?
So after nearly two semesters worth of World Civilizations, and countless years of United States history, one thing is a constant that unites all of humanity on every front. Warfare. It’s one thing to read about this and allowing the words on a page to paint the picture of what it must be like, but quite another to see it in HD captured from firsthand cameras. The capacity we as humans have to inflict utter carnage and atrocity unto one another is soul-shattering. I’ve spent the last few hours watching WWII in HD on the History Channel, and no matter how often I’ve read and studied the last great war, I still manage to be humbled and feel shame for the entire human race.
I’m nearly finished reading “The Guns of August,” a wonderfully written book that recounts the world situations and atmosphere that lead up to (and later through) World War One. I wish I could tell the politicians and leaders of that day to take heed... history will repeat itself. Germany will have it’s revenge, and it’s voracious aggression will push the limits of terror in it’s effort to prove the superiority of their “kulture.” Tortured souls, sentenced to hell on Earth for being a different race. God... where were you?
As much as I enjoy learning about WWII, it’s a saddening experience. The imagery burns itself into your mind, and the sorrow will fill your heart to the point of bursting. Wars certainly are a constant, and it would seem that every generation conceived has to play its part in one.
My Grandfather was in WWII. He died when I was four. I wish he’d lived long enough for me to ask him about it, but as I type this I wonder... would I really want to know more?
“We know that man, born to freedom in the image of God, will not forever suffer the oppressors' sword. The peoples of the United Nations are taking that sword from the oppressors' hands. With it they will destroy those tyrants. The brazen tyrannies pass. Man marches forward toward the light.”
- Franklin D Roosevelt, 1942
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