A phantom war,a phantom defeat,a phantom guilt!

[Asha Anand <>]

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Tip of the day:  Space is Big / Space is Dark / 
                 It's Hard to Find / A Place to Park - Burma Shave     
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Hi Gang,

   Many have written their experiences of war(or
imagined them) in many different languages and styles.
I happened to read a book in which the author writes
about France being defeated by Germans. The life of
the characters in the novel has been drawn in an
interesting manner. This author is a master in playing
with words, strong words and emotions of the readers.
I found him to be unique, very unique. Must be the
charm in the usage of words that attracted me towards
his works.He's Jean Paul Sartre.
  Below are some sentences that a character, Mathieu,
from the book -Iron in the Soul, makes/thinks about
war and its effect on life. The guilt, angry and
frustration, a sense of helplessness, visualizing
death...it does cause a pain in the heart. Yeh, for
sure. Do not we think on the similar lines when we die
every night and be born every morning, just to die
again? 

   "I've spent my life reading,yawning,tinkling the
bell of my own little problems, never managing to make
a decision-only to find that I HAVE decided, that I
CHOSE this war and this defeat...Everything's got to
be done over again,and yet, there's nothing that can
be done. The two thoughts interpenetrated, cancelled
one another out. Only the unruffled surface of
nothingness remained."
  -Mathieu, waiting for captivity at hands of Germans.

   "In the darkness they all looked alike...He sat
down on the edge of the road because there was nowhere
else for him to go. Night entered him through mouth
and eyes, through nose and ears."
  - Mathieu is alone with his education and
self-possession,stranded in a moronic tide drifting
through supine defeat.

   "Everything's asking us our opinion;everything.
We're encircled by questions. The whole thing's a
farce. Questions are asked as though we were men. It
is a farce-this shadow of a question put by the shadow
of a war to a handful of make-believe men.
   Life's got to go on.Day after day,we have got to
gather in the rotten fruit of defeat,workout,in a
world that's gone to pieces,that total choice I've
just refused to make.But, good God!-I didn't choose
this war,I didn't choose this defeat:by what trick of
fortune have I got to take responsibility for them?
Let them shout together to the far heavens:'We've
nothing to do with all this!'
  A phantom war,a phantom defeat,a phantom guilt!"
  - Mathieu, again...disgusted with war.

Asha, to know is to appropriate.


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