Mr. B's Class - Day Eight

"War! Huh, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing...." Edwin Starr.

"There was never a good war or a bad peace." Ben Franklin.

That said, the idea of war in 2017 shows how far we haven't come. We are all passengers on the spaceship Earth, and, yes, some people are horrible. But why so many? Are there people I would like to see eradicated? Of course, but unfortunately, it is what it is. All some of us can do is try to make a positive difference and make the world a better place. 

The following Thomas Hardy poem written in 1902 sums up the ridiculousness of it all. I can write until I am blue in the face, but minds will not be changed, so I will just offer the poem and hope:

The Man He Killed

BY THOMAS HARDY

"Had he and I but met 

            By some old ancient inn, 

We should have sat us down to wet 

            Right many a nipperkin! 

            "But ranged as infantry, 

            And staring face to face, 

I shot at him as he at me, 

            And killed him in his place. 

            "I shot him dead because — 

            Because he was my foe, 

Just so: my foe of course he was; 

            That's clear enough; although 

            "He thought he'd 'list, perhaps, 

            Off-hand like — just as I — 

Was out of work — had sold his traps — 

            No other reason why. 

            "Yes; quaint and curious war is! 

            You shoot a fellow down 

You'd treat if met where any bar is, 

            Or help to half-a-crown."