Veteran Silence

Have you ever wondered what an odd thing war is? Alpha males killing alpha males from the perspective of an age when a warning notice can be found on a metal ladder advising the cautious owner not to erect it against an electric pylon?

The Normandy Landing Beach Cemeteries are full of young boys. Historians comment that they make the best soldiers, simply because their minds have not yet evolved from killing, to the realisation of being killed.

Auto insurance statistics say the same.

When we were young we all played a game of tag. Touch anyone in the game and he/she was “it”. “It” had then to run around and try to touch someone else. The underlying theme of tag is to improve fitness and help maintain survival of the species. Simple and harmless.

Except on the battlefield. Give guns to boys and a mission to kill, and they will kill each other. A deadly variant of tag that cannot be further removed from nature.

Herein may be an answer to the riddle of Veteran silence. The brains of young men do not carry a conscience of what they are actually doing because they are unable to visualise themselves at the receiving end. In the animal kingdom the lion does not want to kill, he merely wants to eat. In the human male the development of a conscience evolves with age and the consequences of having once killed bites hard and deep into the heart and mind. In the autumn of their lives, veterans cannot give voice to this conundrum. The silence of guilt is profound and words entirely unable give expression.

All boys are at the mercy of their peers. Put an evil person in charge and that evil insidiously permeates the layers of that society. The German race were, and still are, very good at getting things done.

If there are any lessons at all to be learnt by history, it is this. Forget politics and politicians promises, but look deeply into the heart and eyes of your Leader and try to see Goodness therein. If what you see is dark, find someone else.