“The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” -Douglas MacArthur
I promise I’ll write a happy slice soon. -Me
It’s March 5, 2022, and for a variety of reasons we’re once again “watching” a war on television and social media. This morning I saw, for the first time, a video clip of what was most likely a Russian helicopter being shot down in Ukraine. I watched it on the CNN website, but soon saw it begin to appear on Twitter.
All of the tweets I saw were celebratory, with gif replies like one might see on a tweet announcing the win of a sports team.
An aircrew lost their lives in that video clip. Two men or women aren’t going home to their families. They died. Maybe they were fighting for a cause they believed in, or maybe they were scared and fervently wished they were not there in the first place. It doesn’t matter – lives were lost.
I do not, of course, support the Russian aggression, but nor can I celebrate the loss of human life. The job of a soldier is to sometimes take the life of another, but I don’t believe it needs to be celebrated like a touchdown or home run from sidelines thousands of miles away.
As an aside, I’m starting to not be so crazy about social media either.
In other news, the daffodils in my front yard have opened. That’s something to smile about!
Yet There is Method 
Those daffodils. Thank heaven for them. Thank heaven for the meaning and purpose and hope they bring us.
And yes, there is something terribly dystopian about the way we are taking in this latest tragedy, which is at once both remote and visceral. Heartbreaking.
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Thanks for this very necessary reminder. These are people’s lives… As a parent I struggle hearing about or watching any such conflicts. Your slice is absolutely timely.
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Thank you so much for this Slice. I do wonder, sometimes, if seeing things on the same television where we see fiction has desensitized some people to real life.
As for the daffodils — this frozen Canadian, staring at the fresh snow outside her window, is grateful to know that Spring is coming somewhere. 🙂
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It’s just heart-wrenching, as you said. I hate the way it’s treated as if it were a video game. Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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