3 responses to “In The Windows at Northlight: ‘Shell Shock and Foresight ‘”

1. 

   dottypotter

   September 9, 2020 at 12:51 am

   I don’t think I would like to see this. My grandfather took his own life after suffering shell shock. And it’s still happening now. Maybe the pictures should be nailed up near an army recruiting office.

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   1. 

      Bernie Bell

      September 9, 2020 at 9:58 am

      I had a similar reaction. I think that looking into those eyes, would send me down a dark road.
      But….folk need to be reminded…

      Dulce et Decorum Est

      Wilfred Owen – 1893-1918

      Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
      Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
      Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
      And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
      Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
      But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
      Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
      Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

      Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
      Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
      But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
      And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
      Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
      As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
      In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
      He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

      If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
      Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
      And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
      His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
      If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
      Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
      Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
      Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
      My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
      To children ardent for some desperate glory,
      The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
      Pro patria mori.

      *Latin phrase is from the Roman poet Horace: “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”

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2. 

   Bernie Bell

   September 9, 2020 at 12:20 pm

   I’ll take this opportunity to say something about fireworks – the ones which make loud bangs.
   Many ex-military people can be very distressed by these noises. The reader might be calling me a kill-joy, but – imagine that you have been serving in a war zone. Then, you are home, safe. Then BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!!

   It might also be said that it was their choice to join the military. But – young people now, as in the past, still join the military with no real idea of what they are letting themselves in for – what they might encounter – un-imaginable things, compared to their home life. They fall for ‘Dulce et decorum est.’ And the ads. about having a jolly time in far-away places.
   Whether there is a need for war or not is open to debate, and can vary according to circumstances. There is no need for fireworks which make loud bangs. Simple as that.

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