 I’m not an American and, if I were, I would not be happy having to make sense of all this hoo-ha about who might be the next president. It is not looking very good, is it? Where’s the quality? Even John Kerry has said it is ‘an embarrassment’
BUT…as the dragged-out electioneering continues in the US, that vision of Democrat Bernie Sanders being surprised by a small bird interrupting his speech was just amazing. Pure gold, (as they say). The gathered crowd (unsurprisingly) stood and cheered as the bird calmly perched on the lectern “I know it doesn't look like it”, said Mr Sanders, “but that bird is really a dove asking us for world peace," he added, bringing the crowd to its feet once more. And then he said: "No more wars!" Hopefully the little bird will help to make that statement resonate across the globe. Perhaps it was (is?) a message to the world. So many pleas about stopping wars have been voiced over the years – indeed, over the centuries. Are we able to take heed of the little bird’s message – seeing that we have taken little heed of others’? Wise people have spoken out about war and its stupidity and futility and unwise people have ignored the wise persons’ words. Children know that war is evil and that war achieves little, so why can’t grown men (usually men) think likewise? Wars that are raging now are costing the world dearly. They are costing in terms of precious lives and livelihoods and health. They are wrecking civilization in many parts of the world. And the proliferation of what is generally termed ‘terrorism’ is surely living up to its name by terrorising whole communities and entire countries. I am still at a loss to understand what such terrorists are aiming to achieve, apart from killing people they think they must hate (for whatever reason). While sorting out the document section of my computer, I came across these (below) statements concerning war. I have no memory of where or when I sourced them. Also I cannot remember whether I used them in a blog post in years gone by, or not. To anyone who has already read these gathered words in my blog or any other of my musings please excuse me. But I have a current desire to repeat them all. Here, I offer the words of wisdom: “What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?” ― Mahatma Gandhi “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” ― Howard Zinn “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” ― Albert Einstein “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” ― Ernest Hemingway, “Listen up - there's no war that will end all wars.” ― Haruki Murakami, “All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal.” ― John Steinbeck That (above) is certainly a favourite. But, I think I’ll leave the last word to The Big Friendly Giant, otherwise known as ‘The BFG’ – seemingly a lightweight comment but it hits home with its truth: “‘I is not understanding human beans at all,’ the BFG said. ……‘But human beans is squishing each other all the time,’ …... ‘They is shootling guns and going up in aerioplanes to drop their bombs on each other’s heads every week. Human beans is always killing other human beans.’ He was right. Of course he was right and Sophie knew it. She was beginning to wonder whether humans were actually any better than giants.” - Roald Dahl, The BFG So, it seems that a fictional giant and a (real) little bird have more worthwhile knowledge than the whole world. I hope we see Bernie Sanders’ little bird again soon. “No more wars!” indeed.
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