SCENES OF WAR (June 15, 2014)

Wherever one looks on the World Wide Web, there are scenes of war. At present, they come from Syria, Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. But how about tomorrow? By the time tanks, men in uniforms, and long lines of refugees come in sight, one will have become used to such scenes. Which is perhaps why it makes sense to revisit them at one’s leisure. Again and again. Slowly but surely, one becomes familiarized with the horrors yet to come. The greatest surprise will be the sounds and smells of war. The feel of dust and mud on one’s hands will come next. As well as the pangs of hunger that stretch for untold days. Not to worry, though. The way we are, we will get used to anything that war brings, and pretty fast. As human intelligence goes, war is when it reaches its zenith. And its greatest, as it were, glory.