100- The Children’s Crusade
I reread Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s Slaughterhouse Five Slaughterhouse Five or the Children’s Crusade, a duty dance with death at King’s mountain State park British Empire and the colonists who were fighting for their (our) independence. Around a thousand well armed British loyalists held the mountain, a hill to those Alaskans among us, and an equal force of colonists fought their way up the mountain.
The colonists used Indian tactics of hiding behind trees and aiming and shooting directly at an individual, which was considered murder at the time. The British army had an officer point his sword in one direction and all the troops fired in that general direction, but not at an individual. This was civilized warfare at the time.
The British lost the battle and it is widely considered the turning point in the American Revolution.
There are monuments there for the fallen soldiers there, idealizing the valor of both sides, and romanticizing the day. But if you squint your eyes on a cool spring morning, look up into the trees and use your imagination, you can just make out the insanity that must have occurred there, the insanity that is all war.
Vonnegut included a quote in his novel about the insanity of the fire-bombing of Dresden Germany
“History in her solemn page informs us that the crusaders were but ignorant and savage men, that their motives were those of bigotry unmitigated, and that their pathway was one of blood and tears. Romance, on the other hand dilates upon their piety and heroism, and portrays, in her most glowing and impassioned hues, their virtue and magnanimity, the imperishable honor they acquired for themselves, and the great services they rendered for Christianity.” Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, page 15-16, published in 1969,Dell books.
I do not argue here against the revolution that afforded me the freedom to say anything I wish, anytime I wish, anyway I wish. I do not argue here against the necessity to stop Hitler’s agenda. I do not argue here against the mission we pursue in the Middle East today. All war’s have good and just reason’s, on both sides. I maintain that there are proven and saner ways to conquer injustice, right wrongs, pursue freedom and select religious expression than the insanity of war.
And I have listed those reasons in order of importance and justice. Freedom, liberating others from bondage, and preference of religious expression. George Bush’s war in Iraq
Dave Seward
May 2004
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