Heaven is all around, Life in War 1914-1918

 Lying without motion on the ground
The lost ones have been found.
The dead have been crowned.
Heaven is all around.
Those soldiers fought in war
With the Devil at their doors.
Now without a sound,
Heaven is all around.
Don’t leave them there, for God’s sake,
End their loved ones ache.
Heaven is here.

How lovely that a nine year old can express such wonderful words on a war that happened almost a century ago.

Post from: Widows Quest

I just wonder when we as a world will learn that war causes such tremendous pain, conflict never seems to solve problems, and that we all as human beings should value life and find a way to live in peace no matter what our religious beliefs, politics, background or past cultural history.

I know that war has been a part of life since day 1 however, I still don’t know how “intelligent” human beings can not see the pain we cause each other…how life is a precious gift that we should value more than death.

I know that war will continue however, I pray that one day we all learn to live together on this large planet that surely can cope with our differences… In the meantime, my heart goes out to anyone who has lost a loved one on military duty, no matter what side…the pain is intolerable and I hope that Widows Quest can provide some comfort and strength in your hour of need..

Post from: Widows Quest

 ”This bowl is part of an exhibit, titled “Offering Reconciliation,” which displays the work of Israeli and Palestinian artists, who were given 135 identical ceramic bowls to paint, decorate, inscribe, or embellish.

The exhibit is organized by Bereaved Families Forum for Peace, Reconciliation and Tolerance, a group of about 500 Israeli and Palestinian families who have lost loved ones in the Middle East conflict. Now they work together to educate Palestinians and Israelis, as well as people around the world, about how both sides can live together without hatred.

Robi Damelin, an Israeli woman, and Ali Abu-Awwad, a Palestinian man, who lost a son and a brother, respectively,spoke at Pomegranate Gallery ..”There is a lot of pain on both sides right now,” says Damelin. “You meet these hardened people — kids, even — who have no reason to believe in reconciliation. How do you fight [against] that?”

“The point is not to hug and kiss and forget our pasts. The point is to realize, ‘OK, we disagree. But you’re human and I’m human and the pain we’re causing each other is not the answer, “Abu-Awwad said.”

I just love these words…I love the idea of forgetting our past …I love the idea that we are all human and that we should be seeking a way of living together not causing ourselves pain.

Maybe one day…

Post from: Widows Quest

“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”

Wow, with all Anne Frank had to endure during the war, if she could still think about the beauty around her then that should inspire us to do the same…look around today and see that beauty. That beauty in nature, in smiles, in the architecture, in the play of children, in the sunset, in the sunrise….

Post from: Widows Quest

“A US soldier has been withdrawn from Iraq after his two brothers were killed in action, echoing the Oscar-winning film “Saving Private Ryan”, it was reported Friday.

Jason Hubbard, 33, will return to his family’s home in northern California after younger brother Nathan, 21, was one of 14 soldiers killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in northern Iraq on Wednesday.

The death came three years after a roadside bombing claimed the life of another sibling, Jared, 22, in Fallujah in 2004, reports said.

Jason was withdrawn under the military’s “sole survivor” policy aimed at preventing parents losing all of their children to war.

The case bears a striking similarity to Steven Spielberg’s 1998 film about a mission to recover a soldier from northern France after all his brothers are killed during the D-Day landings.

“Art imitates life, and unfortunately sometimes life imitates art,” an army official who asked not to be identified told AFP.

Jason Hubbard had been travelling in another helicopter accompanying the Black Hawk chopper which crashed on Wednesday, according to reports…..

A priest and family friend, Tim Rolen, said the Hubbard family was struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.

“The word I would not use is destroyed. This is a family with strong ties, strong connections. It won’t destroy them, but it will get them about as close as you can get to that,” he told the Fresno Bee newspaper….Later that year he had signed up along with elder brother Jason, a former policeman. The brothers’ mother said she believed Jason had joined to protect his younger brother. In an interview shortly before his deployment to Iraq, Nathan said he was unfazed by the risk he could be killed.

“People are going to be hurt, and people are going to be killed,” he said. That is the reality you have to accept, but not dwell on.

“If I worried about dying … I would live too cautious, and I want to live a very great life,” he said.”

 How telling that last phrase, maybe hero Nathan had it right…we never know how long we have in this world and living it to the full is all we can do…god bless the family.

Post from: Widows Quest

 The whole world, all religions are suffering loss and I can only imagine the level of pain across the world. You would think as humans, as people we should be able to find a way of living together rather than dying together.

Post from: Widows Quest

“At least 700,000 children have had a parent deployed overseas, but there are scant resources for the stressed kids who are exhibiting social, emotional, behavioral and academic problems.

Nearly 50 percent of troops killed in Iraq have left spouses and children behind, but there are precious few programs offering grief counseling for Gold Star families. Support for family members acting as primary caretakers for their severely injured veterans, including those with polytraumas and traumatic brain injury, is virtually non-existent.

Since 2001, 160,000 female troops have been deployed, and 10 percent of them are single mothers. Women combat veterans are at an elevated risk for PTSD, and often suffer military sexual abuse. But the VA has just two gender-specific in-patient treatment programs.”

The article continues saying that “the untreated effects of combat-related trauma last a lifetime, and long-term consequences include: unemployment, depression, divorce, domestic violence, chemical dependency, poor physical health, homelessness, “accidental death,” suicide and even murder. “

I understand the effect of bereavement and don’t know what I would have done without the support of family and friends. We spend billions on defense budgets, surely we should be spending a little of that on supporting society through the effects of the war.

Post from: Widows Quest

 

- As of Thursday, July 5, 2007, at least 3,591 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,951 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

The striking part for me is that 1,000 were not due to hostile action – for anyone reading this blog who has lost someone, my heart goes out to you.

Post from: Widows Quest

To bring this home – yesterday, the BBC wrote about the latest funeral

The widow and the two sons of a “great soldier” killed by mortar fire in Iraq led more than 800 mourners at his military funeral in Hampshire.

Maj Paul Harding, of the 4th Battalion The Rifles, was killed less than a month after he was deployed to Basra.

His widow Paula, and sons Christopher, 19, and Jake, 17, led the funeral procession at Winchester Cathedral.

He was so strong, so strong, I thought he was invincible Paula Harding, widow

The service on Friday included a eulogy by colleague and friend, former Maj Nick Haddock, who spoke of Maj Harding’s “selfless” devotion to both his family and to his duty.

He said: “With a gentle manner and a disarming honesty, he touched so many lives and he died where he was always to be found, leading from the front.”

On the night before the Army commander died, he placed himself in the centre’s most exposed fortified position to help secure the route in for a re-supply convoy from the Basra Palace base.

The 48-year-old was hit by a mortar round and died instantly on 20 June.

Post from: Widows Quest