The Burial of Private Colin Patrick

On the subject of the realities of war...

The Burial of Private Colin Patrick

There was no noise as the coffin was lowered
into the grave,
save for the sadness of the lonely bugle
hanging slowly in the withered air.

His comrades stood around
all of them hardened veterans of the war,
thinking of their fallen friend
while wondering which of the them
would be the next
to die.

The chaplain said a few words from the Bible
1 Peter, verses 4, 7 through 11,
after which the company commander stepped forward
and quoted from a certain President,
Abraham Lincoln,
who once said under somewhat similar circumstances
in another place:

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated
to the great task remaining before us
that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion
to that cause for which they gave the last full measure
of devotion
that we here highly resolve that these
dead shall not have died
in vain."

He concluded by telling the troops
how proud he had been to have served
with such a brave young man,
and then he turned and walked back
to the bunkers behind
the land of the red tabs.

The others marched slowly
in the opposite direction
heads bowed,
a few with salt in their eyes,
as they glanced back and bid farewell
to the mound of dirt and small white cross,

the only memorial to mark the place

of the burial of private Colin Patrick.

written & performed by Paul Kimball
Recorded on 4-track, 1997

Pictures of War

There is a story running in the news right now that I find truly offensive, on many levels. It offends me because it plays into the worst elements of rah-rah militarism masquerading as patriotism, and it offends me because it equates the "suffering" of a dog at the loss of its owner with real, human suffering. Indeed, if you read the comments section, the "suffering" of the dog seems to trump human suffering, at least in the case of an American dog owned by a U.S. Navy SEAL (one suspects that the sympathy for some faceless, nameless Iraqi's dog, or Afgan's dog, would be less pronounced).

In case you haven't seen it, the story is about a dog who apparently wouldn't leave the side of his owner's casket at the SEAL's funeral. You can see a treacly "news" piece on it here, or watch this CBS report. 

I consider this shameless propaganda. The worst part, however, comes in the comments, where people describe it as "the most depressing" or "saddest photo" ever. My favourite was one by someone named Pam Stewart, who wrote: "This is the picture of war." That people actually think that way is a sad commentary on our complete and total lack of perspective as a society.

Here's some photos for Ms. Stewart and her fellow commenters that are truly depressing, and representative of the real horrors of war. These aren't some whitewashed photos of a flag-draped coffin with a noble dog lying next to it - these are the real thing, and I think it's time people woke up and got some perspective.

World War I

The Holocaust, World War II



Vietnam

 

Iraq

America

I thought about posting photos of men who had been horribly disfigured by war, but I figured I had made my point. But you can find them on the Internet if you want to look. If anyone really thinks that a picture of a dog lying next to a flag-draped coffin at a stage-managed funeral for media consumption is a "picture of war", or the "most depressing photo ever", then they should seek out these photos of the most horribly disfigured of our war wounded. These are the real pictures of war - the ones that the masters of war don't want us to see, or remember, or ever think about, because if we did, we might all just agree to put an end to war once and for all.

Paul Kimball