Remembrance Sunday yesterday. I must admit that this day has got little or no significance for me at all. I was born in an era when wars were taken away from our sight because we became faint-hearted at the sight of blood and hypocritically accepted that, whilst it was perfectly ok for the Rwandans to slaughter each other and for Afgani territories to be wiped out, our children oughtn't see the horrors of war (unless the aggressor was over six foot tall, dark and handsome with a magnetic look and a seductive smile, of course). I was born in an era when German schools chose to "omit" from their history curricula the Holocaust in the WW2. I was raised in a country where Mrs Mussolini is somebody who was considered apt for being a minister in the ruling political cohalition and where being a neo-nazi is a popular choice in European high schools. I was brought up in a world where we actually pay to go and watch insatiable violence onto a big screen whilst munching on junk food and drinking pop. Alienated from reality,grown indifferent to suffering. However, there are situation, scenes, words that make you consider the reality of war, allegories of a common humanity, metaphores of global neighbourhood. And so it happens that someone else's suffering comes close to home not necessarily because it gets closer geographically or because a relative of yours is involved into the conflict - but the revelation generates from the realization that,in the end of the day, we are all human, all guilty of the same weaknessess, all in need of justice,rights,forgiveness. The movie we watched last night at church "To End of All Wars" it's a beautiful graphic display of this concept. Based on an autobiographical novel by Ernest Gordon, its cinematographical rendition is an emotive and thought provoking piece. Although I was unimpressed by the cliques and often too explicit allegories - (but maybe that's more of a reflection on my personal views: I don't seem to like it to be told what to see,understand and ultimately believe, I couldn't help but feel drown into swapping my detachment for a more humane sentiment where anger is suddenly substituted by grace and blood thirst after vindication is tranformed into forgiveness. Excellent choice for the occasion.
Monday, November 13
In Remembrance of Me
Remembrance Sunday yesterday. I must admit that this day has got little or no significance for me at all. I was born in an era when wars were taken away from our sight because we became faint-hearted at the sight of blood and hypocritically accepted that, whilst it was perfectly ok for the Rwandans to slaughter each other and for Afgani territories to be wiped out, our children oughtn't see the horrors of war (unless the aggressor was over six foot tall, dark and handsome with a magnetic look and a seductive smile, of course). I was born in an era when German schools chose to "omit" from their history curricula the Holocaust in the WW2. I was raised in a country where Mrs Mussolini is somebody who was considered apt for being a minister in the ruling political cohalition and where being a neo-nazi is a popular choice in European high schools. I was brought up in a world where we actually pay to go and watch insatiable violence onto a big screen whilst munching on junk food and drinking pop. Alienated from reality,grown indifferent to suffering. However, there are situation, scenes, words that make you consider the reality of war, allegories of a common humanity, metaphores of global neighbourhood. And so it happens that someone else's suffering comes close to home not necessarily because it gets closer geographically or because a relative of yours is involved into the conflict - but the revelation generates from the realization that,in the end of the day, we are all human, all guilty of the same weaknessess, all in need of justice,rights,forgiveness. The movie we watched last night at church "To End of All Wars" it's a beautiful graphic display of this concept. Based on an autobiographical novel by Ernest Gordon, its cinematographical rendition is an emotive and thought provoking piece. Although I was unimpressed by the cliques and often too explicit allegories - (but maybe that's more of a reflection on my personal views: I don't seem to like it to be told what to see,understand and ultimately believe, I couldn't help but feel drown into swapping my detachment for a more humane sentiment where anger is suddenly substituted by grace and blood thirst after vindication is tranformed into forgiveness. Excellent choice for the occasion.
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