“War is hell. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it. Those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.”
-William Tecomseh Sherman, Civil War General, architect of modern warfare
Today we remember. As my family and I place flags I wonder how many families across the world share in this grief. Are the grandchildren of the man killed by my grandfather wrestling with the same questions about the necessity of modern warfare? I put my hand on my chest and feel a heartbeat. I look into my children’s eyes and see no fear.
I offer unending thanks for the men and women who died so I may enjoy liberty. They are heroes. I heap the curses of ages upon the war mongers who placed poor young men in their graves.
As we remember today, let us also reflect. Let us mourn the dead and consider the possibility that we as a species may be approaching a time when we finally outgrow the necessity of war.
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting- Sun Tzu
