Friday, February 28, 2014

Edward Gibbon on the Fall of Rome

Via The Missouri Torch:


Philosopher George Santayana had two observations relevant to this phenomenon of societal amnesia:

• "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

• "Only the dead have seen the end of war."


2 comments:

Doom said...

Actually, I have seen the end of war. WOW! You can't believe how good it is. Most don't understand, every day, they are at war. Just the body, all on it's own, fights to breath, to get fed, to handle sleep, to manage energy consumption, etc.

We fight with all those around us, to get our will enacted, to see our vision of justice realized, and all sorts of other little and big things.

And then there is war. Real, honest to God, killing and dying in the names of causes few of those on any of those fields even understand, let alone could actually identify. Those wars have never gone cold, they simply leave center stage from time to time.

You will enjoy the end of war. But, as I have learned, until it is your time, spend your time here learning to suffer, learning of joy, learning what to hold and what to let go, and some other things. War... does have it's place in the learning curve. If it is a heavy load.

Yeah, it just wasn't my time. When I was brought back to this, at the time, misery... if I had been a bit more on the darker side, I would have killed every medical type that helped bring me back. Purgatory is much better than this, or was then, for a while. Thankfully, I just cried for a year or two, then learned to... enjoy, learn, live... mostly.

Redwine said...

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin