Damn, not what I really like thinking about very oftern even though it stays with me tucked into the corners of this old brain. I was on the ground and seen first hand the horrors of war. Be it that it was 50+ years ago, the question I carried never changed. Why? A question never answered.
Today I see the feeds of the wounded and dead. The days of black and white media are gone and one sees in living, or not living full color. It's a heart breaking image for most. I got to see them in the past in color while the media was still posting in black and white. I got to see them laying on the ground, on stretchers, tables, and in operating situations. Those were heart breaking real wounds and destruction caused by war. I am seeing a repeat of wounds caused by war, only now they seem worse. There are more loss of limbs and tearing deep wounds. Weapons of war have progressed to be more damaging for quicker kills.
I remember when I first entered Vietnam, I was told by a doctor that it is shocking yes but I would become numb to it. I did, I had a job to do and that was first and foremost, save lives. Unfortunantly, I could not save all that were before me. Yes, doing the job you do become numb to it. If you didn't you could never do what was needed of you. That doesn't mean you forget it or ignore it. That question of why always remains with you.
I have seen the suffering and now see it again. No, Ukraine is not the only place I have seen it in recent years. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Palistine, Sudan, and on the streets of the USA. The only common denominator for most is countries led by dictators and want to B dictators. A power thing. People are threatening nuclear arms use and one has to look at who is doing that. Dictators and they will be the cause of Armageddon. I may not be around long enough to experience the end of the world as we know it but I feel I may be for the beginning of it with the likes of putin and kim that are both psychopaths that don't care if their own populations are destroyed as long as they start it.
War is ugly and if you are unfortunate enough to withess it's results first hand, it is much more ugly. Today we see residential areas being destroyed. Civilians tageted. We seen the same thing in Syria done by the same nation. I never witnessed first hand the destruction of large permanent buildings like that, the jungles of SE Asia doesn't support that too much but I can say the damage to human bidies and lives still relate and it is not pretty. It is not something to just shrug off and say, oh well, it happens. Why? Only one has that answer and it seems that his answers are nothing but lies to hide behind. Worse yet, those that support him and his actions.
People that have no idea as to the horrors of war. Those that sit on their asses and search endlessly to find rediculas articles to support their own ideas. These people support any actions of the psychopaths. These people share in the guilt of all those who's lives have been affected by war no matter the side they were fighting on. Dead or mutilated is dead or mutilated on either side and all have families that mourn them. One side for a cause and the other to follow the lies they were fed.
Someone ask me if I would vollunteer to go to Ukraine and fight for them. I said I would but know little of fighting, especially in urban areas. I said I would go and lend a helping hand in hospitals where manynhealthcare workers have resigned due to what they are seeing and theamount of trama they were facing. Then again, I admit, with my age and being out of the medical business for quite sometime, I would be in the way more than being hepful. That they don't need.
When it ends, the psychological evils take over. Sure one easily says they would kill rather than be killed or they would kill to protect one of their own. Killing is hard. It is hard on the individual that kills even if it is to save oneself. It stays with you. Killing inocents, especially children will haunt someone their entire life. They may be ruthless killers led by psychopaths and feel little at the time but their conscious will take over once the pressure of war subsides. I know killing will stay with someone even if it was to save yourself or another. Been there and I can say it is never forgotten. Ever. Forever.
I will admit that while war is hell in earth, sometimes to end a war it needs to be esculated first. In the long run less lives could be lost. In the case of the current russian invasion of Ukraine, chasing the russians out by any means would be a defeat for putin and that may be enough to stop it all.
newlinesmag.com
