Saturday, May 14, 2011

Words of wisdom

San Mateo Daily Journal
Saturday
May 14 2011 Home Local News State / National / World Sports Opinion / Letters
Words of wisdom on war May 14, 2011, 03:44 AM The Associated Press
Editor,
Bertrand Russell, often considered among Britain’s leading philosophers and a recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature, felt he had to oppose World War II at the war’s outset. One of the things that makes me respect him so much is that he was so honest about talking about the conflict in his own feelings. Describing himself at that period, he said that, while he opposed war, “I desired the defeat of Germany as much as any retired colonel, and love of England is very nearly the strongest emotion I possess.”
One of my great uncles, Lt. Warren O. “Wedge” Grimm (March 9, 1888-Nov. 11, 1919), was born in Lewistown, Penn. An All-American at the University of Washington and an officer in the U.S. Army, he served with distinction as part of the American Expeditionary Force Siberia stationed in Russia in 1918-1919. He was assassinated Nov. 11, 1919, by members of the IWW (Wobblies) during the Centralia Massacre in Washington State.
Yet, when I think about the wars we’re engaged in today in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is nowhere that an American or anybody can go and see the toll of the war in this sense, especially since the great bulk of the casualties are Afghan and Iraqi civilians, as well as the American and allied troops who have died. Give them strength and give them wisdom. War is total waste, the most destructive total waste there is--in materials, in time, in lands, in people.


Ted Rudow III,MA
Palo Alto

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