„Here’s to the heroes
Who never rest
They are the chosen
We are the rest...”
Erkan Aki „Here’s to the heroes...”

I am not a hero. Exactly, I am a coward and a pacifist. The heroes are dead.
They died with the bands playing „Waltzin’ Matilda”. Or „Lili Marlene”. Or other stupid and heart moving songs. They got to death in the war that „will stop all the wars”, in the Spain civil war, in the second world war, in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq or any far corner on this planet. They died in the morning, they died at noon, and they died in the night. They got to their death joyful, with less or no sorrow. They got to their death for brave, noble causes or just for stupid ones. They died in vain.
The best of the best, the young, braves, and the smart ones got to the front lines. Not once or twice but many times in the past century and in this century the future of many nations disappeared in vain. We could only guess what could all these deceased persons, these human beings perform for our progress, for our science and art.
They were never asked if they want to die. They were never consulted. Never was John Smith asked if he wants to horribly die, in a foreign country, by bullet or by shrapnel or burned by the flame thrower.
Very few wars could be justified in the past century, in this century. Very few wars could be considered as right wars. But even this is a very cold and unjust ration for those who died at Verdun and Somme, at the gates of Madrid or at El Allamein. No war is right for the widows, for the orphans, for the sorrow of a broken home, for the sadness of a forest of crosses in the cemetery.
Who will pay, who accounts now for all these lives, for all these dead people? Who could reimburse all these innocent people dying? Do they die by their own will? Or are they just sad puppets of stupid leaders?
Who cared about the archiduke Franz Ferdinand? Who cared about Serbia? Why not policing a country full of murders, in the hope that no political murder will be done? Researching these events, now, we could see that the murder at Sarajevo was a more solid cassus belli than Bush’s Iraq invasion- and lead to about 8 million deaths.
Who cared about Spain? Who cared about Cechoslovakia? Why not to let a country, two countries in Franco or Hitler’s hands for the sake of peace? Why not appease Hitler or Bush or everyone strong enough to wage a big stick?
So, before clapping our hands before a marching army, before cheering some liar leaders, we must ask ourselves: Why? Is a war, every war, worth just a single human live? Just the live of an unknown, stupid soldier? Sincerely, I doubt it, especially this last one. Is Bush or Blair Gods to give the lives of their soldiers back? Is Iraq’s oil worth just a single soldier, be Iraqi, British or American? I doubt very much.
Let us pray for good, common old sense. Better to live, better to flourish. Stupid to die like a hero.