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one more posting for the day.

Is their past our future? Or our future their past?

 

Calumet Stone

 

memories fade

the years pass by

old men and parades

tarnished medals held high

stained plaques on monuments

and of stone

part of the landscape

weathered and stand alone

does anyone stop

and ponder their feat

the hero's action

in the day was so sweet

where are they now

as the years pass by

is the story gone

does anybody question why

 

calumetstone-color_medal_antiqued.thumb.jpg.0874d8e6ef0df4bde758ff1967d9a1ad.jpg

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A powerful post and very topical right now, @johntoennessen. Your post led me look up the various reasons why the US entered WW1 in 1917 following 3 years of neutrality.

 

My personal take on your text is that there are still people (historians, novelists, journalists, re-enactment groups, etc.) who do remind us of the realities of past conflicts from time to time. But in general, I think time moves on and 'the gory details' of military conflicts become less clearly focused for each new generation. Unless they take the trouble to look them up. I think it's also true that 'popular history' tends to gloss over the 'gory details', heroic deeds and political motivations of past conflicts. We tend to have a nationality-centric view of past conflicts and emphasize our 'national heroes' while de-emphasizing the those of other nationalities. And the heroism and suffering incurred by other parties in the conflict.

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