Passendaele

Good Morning, S!
It's Saturday, November 8th, and I've got a bone to pick.

I strongly hope that you remember to take a minute at 11 o'clock this Tuesday to remember the fallen soldiers in all the wars that Canada has participated in.

Last night, I went and saw a Canadian made movie called Passchendaele, whose plot was obviously based on the very battle for which it was titled. Like most horrific historical events, the screenplay has a romantic thread to lighten it up a bit (think Titanic, but less cheesy). Let it be known to you and to all you random blog buttoners (I think I'm going to shorten that to RBB) out there that I was terrified and disgusted of this movie. I don't pretend to understand the minds of men and women as they enlist themselves for war - but holy hell, what is wrong with these people? There were young men sitting waist deep in a mud trench, trying to concentrate on erradicating the Axis while a dead body of a fellow soldier - A FRIEND, was right beside him, bobbing in the water with a bullet through his head. The fact that people still want to war, and believe that it's just the bee's knees to fight for our country is beyond me. Don't get me wrong RBBs - I'm terribly proud of our soldiers, and their sacrifice for our country! There is no job that is harder - that is what I'm trying to get at here, than killing people for the sheer will of their country's leaders. It all seems so random to me...

"Why do we need to take this hill?"
"Because it will allow our fronts to move up 10 inches."
"We'll still be sitting in muddy trenches for days at end though...?"
"Oh yes, most definitely!"
"When is it going to end, then?"
"Umm..."


It's kind of an abstract idea, isn't it? The end of a war is no farther off than when the leaders, sitting far off from the battle lines, decide it's going to be. It's honestly a game of chicken!


"Oh yes. We've defeated the Germans now!"
"But how do we know? We've probably lost more soldiers than them..."
"Well we have more land than them."
"But before, they had more land than us. Had we stopped the war then, they would have won."
"Yes... but we didn't, so we win."
"Umm..."


I completely break down when studying "recent" war because I can put myself in the shoes of enlisting young men, triage nurses and soldiers in the trenches. I know I can't imagine what it would actually be like, but it's heartbreaking and terrifying for me to even think about. That many men didn't even really know what they were getting into- that they thought killing Germans would be a laugh and then they could come home and be a hero just kills me. Not only that, but these men and women had to come home from the wars they fought and suddenly they were outcasts. People who didn't fit in to the social norm - people who were broken. War is disgusting and useless and a ridiculous exploitation of citizens who just want to do right by their country.

I completely digressed from what I wanted this post to be about. I wanted to explain the movie, and then tie it in with a little tour of the famous European battle grounds that are marked today as Canadian victories for the Allies. I forgot about my complete disbelief of war, and the way it sparks something in me. I'm sure many people have different opinions of war, and the reasons for war, and now you know mine.

"War is a calculated and condoned slaughter of human beings." - Harry Patch, last british surviver WW1

I'll write about the famous Canadian battles on Rememberance Day, S.
Sorry for all the links!
Don't forget to be awesome.
-xo

Ps: footage that you probably don't want to see, but I'll make you watch anyways.

A brief view of Holland's awesome.

EDIT: I apparently have an awesome boy from the Zeals now... wtf?