Some always Remember

I normally wax philosophical for Remembrance Day. Although I have less 'time on the ground' than some who will read this , I do know my soul understands what my body had not experienced. That balance between the high ideals that drive and in the end preserve you, against the futility and raw terror of the action. All those statements of truths we knew, even young, but never really understood as now perhaps we now do. Of seeing the cycle endlessly repeated of 'Rich old man's war, Poor young man's fight'. Yet another generation of cannon fodder shoved into the meat grinder, only for the benefit of a mere handful of the Powerful. I don't think I have become wiser, but it seems more extreme and more obvious to me every conflict.

And so the Boys come Home. For a while.
We all know, in the darkness of the night, that this is just a pause in the endless cycle. This War will pass, like those before it. Certainly soon to be replaced with another Conflict. Those that sat behind desks will thump their chests and speak of Glory. Broken down veterans with empty eyes will be disreguarded on the street. Civilians will speak of the horrors, never considering the cost others paid for the soft lives they possess. Ever more Citizenship will be equated with Rights - never Responsibility.  Another generation will forget or disreguard the lessons so bloodily bought by the few.

I will raise a glass here, at that agreed upon time.
But this year, darkly...