Let us again celebrate the (temporary) (incomplete) end of The Great War. 4 years of pointless murder that continued to poison the world for the rest of the century. (Our current war in Iraq is a descendant of the pure line.) By most standards, it is hard to surpass WWI for sheer empty horror. It remade the world (not necessarily for the better), and remade the human mind, again - not necessarily for the better... Though as a naked lunch moment, it probably did its share of good, revealing the pervasive corruption in the world before the war. It's hard to claim innocence in anything after 1914, or to trust anyone who pretends to innocence. It's a war steeped in sadness, with no sense of accomplishment or even relief about it.
Eric Bogle's song does justice to the horrors and pointlessness of it all. Here are the Pogues, since that's the version I have lived with for 20+ years, and because someone has put together a nice video for the song.
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