My TT13 post begins a little further down the page but first please read this story:
Yesterday I visited Fort Totten with my friend who was renewing her military ID. As we were leaving headquarters we overheard voices:
"When are you leaving?"
"48 hours."
"48 hours."
I saw the soldier who had answered and I called out "I hope you're leaving for home and not...?" but he shook his head slowly. He's going to Iraq. The men and women on this base are reservists and I was under the impression that they weren't being sent overseas.
My friend and I went over to the young man (very young-looking, African American) and he said "I just found out last night. I have two little girls." His face was sad and pained. He said his name was Michael.
It was then that I grabbed him and hugged him and said in his ear "Michael, don't worry, you'll be back, I know you will." He told me this was his second tour. "How long are you going for this time," I asked and he said about a year. I wanted to shake his hand but my hands were wet from wiping my tears. I saw that I was beginning to upset him. "Michael you're going to be fine." I said as I backed away and he got into a van.
My friend and I went over to the young man (very young-looking, African American) and he said "I just found out last night. I have two little girls." His face was sad and pained. He said his name was Michael.
It was then that I grabbed him and hugged him and said in his ear "Michael, don't worry, you'll be back, I know you will." He told me this was his second tour. "How long are you going for this time," I asked and he said about a year. I wanted to shake his hand but my hands were wet from wiping my tears. I saw that I was beginning to upset him. "Michael you're going to be fine." I said as I backed away and he got into a van.
Our most excellent young men facing such danger in war. And while I would never say this to Michael, facing danger for an unneccessary war, a war that we should have never gotten into. ~theteach
So for Thursday Thirteen I post 13+1 anti-war quotes:
Military glory--that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood--that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy...
~Abraham Lincoln
Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose—and you allow him to make war at pleasure.
~Abraham Lincoln
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
~Albert Einstein
In war, truth is the first casualty.
~Aeschylus
It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.
~Albert Camus
When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid, it can't last long." But though a war may be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting.
~Albert Camus
Never has there been a good war or a bad peace.
~Benjamin Franklin
War is as much a punishment to the punisher as it is to the sufferer.
~Thomas Jefferson
Who can sum up all the ills the women of a nation suffer from war? They have all of the misery and none of the glory; nothing to mitigate their weary waiting and watching for the loved ones who return no more."
~Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty Years and More
The guns and the bombs, the rockets and the warships, are all symbols of human failure.
~Lyndon B Johnson
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
~Albert Einstein
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.
~Albert Einstein
A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.
~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Anti-war quotes
More anti-war quotes
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
Military glory--that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood--that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy...
~Abraham Lincoln
Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose—and you allow him to make war at pleasure.
~Abraham Lincoln
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
In war, truth is the first casualty.
~Aeschylus
One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.
~Agatha Christie
It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.
~Albert Camus
When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid, it can't last long." But though a war may be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting.
~Albert Camus
Never has there been a good war or a bad peace.
~Benjamin Franklin
War is as much a punishment to the punisher as it is to the sufferer.
~Thomas Jefferson
Who can sum up all the ills the women of a nation suffer from war? They have all of the misery and none of the glory; nothing to mitigate their weary waiting and watching for the loved ones who return no more."
~Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty Years and More
The guns and the bombs, the rockets and the warships, are all symbols of human failure.
~Lyndon B Johnson
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
~Albert Einstein
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.
~Albert Einstein
A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.
~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Anti-war quotes
More anti-war quotes
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
theteach
17 comments:
May I add one of my favorites, which has the virtue of coming from a military man, President Eisenhower:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the houses of its children." April 16, 1953.
Great quotes they make you think don't they? Its a hard year, heck a hard time in history to be a military wife, and hard to hear stories like the young man that you met. Btu they are all too often heard. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.
Happy TT
A very solemn post to make us think. As a military wife whose husband finished his last deployment just a few short years ago I understand both sides and feel for him and will keep him in my prayers.
Good quotes all.
Hasn't the idiocy gone on for far too long?
Too bad that people weren't thinking this way before Dubuya started his crusade.
War is tough
Your meeting with this poor boy and the following quotes really make me sad ! Then I think that I am lucky living here in Europe where soldiers are only sent to maintain peace and it doesn't happen very often that one is killed. They are mostly used as a threatening decoration (if I may use this word) I only hope that your next president will stop this crazy war !
BTW do you know Sunshine ? she is a very young girl living in Bagdad and telling her daily life in fear it is heartbreaking to read what kind of youth this young girl has !
http://livesstrong.blogspot.com/ I discovered this blog not a long time ago and am very impressed !
Some very good, very true quotes...
Thank you all for you heartfelt comments. A lot of us felt this way right at the beginning but it didn't matter. I'll be visiting you all a little later.
Oh My Mary...those were very powerful quotes. Thank You for shairing them with us all.
Hugs,
Kimmie
the quotes that make me break up all over are from mark twain, john denver gandhi martin luther king lex walenska .....open up that box o war, with all those twirly whirly things that bash, and what is more it hurts the children most of all, and then the prince of peace the mahatma being hit spit locked up and then his wonderful walk to the sea, and i have a dream
Amen! This is one wonderful post Mary … and it’s time we remember that we share this planet with everyone so it’s important to learn to work and play well with others … something we supposedly learned in kindergarten. Thanks for sending this one out into the Universe today. Mine's at Small Reflections.
Hugs and blessings,
I'm not completely on board with Obama yet, but this post is a very strong reminder of why I will not vote for McCain come November.
This senseless violence has to come to an end. Johnny Triggerfinger isn't likely to let that happen if he gets in.
thank-you.
You have inspired me to post anti-war quotes on my blog.
Would Mr. Lincoln please send a telegram to Mr. President?
Powerful, Mary. Just what the doctor ordered. Thanks.
Both Eisenhower and Lincoln were very wise men...why could future Presidents not learn from what they taught us? Everything they said is still pertinent to today.
God bless you for hugging Michael and I pray for all our troops to come home. Obama has it right...sit down and talk with your enemies.
Fabulous post!
What a beautiful post - I truly hope that young man comes home to his little girls. Have you have a great day, despite the emotion you experienced yesterday.
You said it all, everything I've been thinking for years.
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