WAR IS A FORCE THAT GIVES US MEANING
Chris Hedges

Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato

The historian Will Durant calculated that there have only been twenty-nine years in all of human history during which a war was not underway somewhere.

The imagined heroism, the vision of a dash to rescue a wounded comrade, the clear lines we thought were drawn in battle, the images we have of our own reaction under gunfire, usually wilt in combat. This is a sober and unsettling realization. We may not be who we thought we would be. One of the most difficult realizations of war is how deeply we betray ourselves, how far we are from the image of gallantry and courage we desire, how instinctual and primordial fear is.

"I do not understand," wrote Primo Levi. "I cannot tolerate the fact that a man should be judged not for what he is but because of the group to which he happens to belong."

The first casualty when war comes is truth - Senator Hiram Johnson, 1917

Elsa Morante: History: a Novel

A legendary fighter--and Ryszard Kapuscinski correctly pointed out that girls make much better child soldiers than boys because they are less prone to hysterics--

Ivo Andric - The Bridge on the Drina

Ariel Dorfman - Widows

Anthony Loyd - My War Gone By, I Miss It So

There are few sanctuaries in war. But one is provided by couples in love. They are not able to staunch the slaughter. They are often powerless and can themselves often become victims. But it was with them, seated around a wood stove, usually over a simple meal, that I found sanity and was reminded of what it means to be human. Love kept them grounded. Love, when it is deep and sustained by two individuals, includes self-giving--often self-sacrifice--as well as desire. For the covenant of love is such that it recognizes both the fragility and the sanctity of the individual. It recognizes itself in the other. It alone can save us.

A World War II study determined that after sixty days of continuous combat, 98 percent of all surviving soldiers will have become psychiatric casualties. They found that a common trait among the 2 percent who were able to endure sustained combat was a predisposition toward "aggressive psychopathic personalities."

William Manchester - Goodbye Darkness

...love, in its mystery, has its own power. It alone gives us meaning that endures. It alone allows us to embrace and cherish life. Love has power both to resist in our nature what we know we must resist, and to affirm what we know we must affirm. And love... is eternal.

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