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October 15, 2004

Words of wisdom from Walter Eckland, my patron saint.

I was watching Gallipoli again today, and, while it is situationally dissimilar from the Mesopotamian idiocy, it offers many still-valid lessons on the overall futility of armed conflict (except, of course, civil resistance to tyranny). I am still moved by the final moments before the 10th Light Horse goes "over the top," when the men begin shoving their bayonets into the sandbags and hanging precious possessions and letters to their loved ones on them. One sees this and cannot blame the French mutineers who refused to obey similar orders despite the lottery for the firing squad which awaited them. One questions the entire notion of bravery, and whether those men who obey are really braver than those who revolt. One also wonders why these lessons of history are never absorbed, until one watches my favorite Cary Grant film, Father Goose, and hears the words of Walter Eckland, my patron saint (because he embodies the hope that a broke, scruffy drunk can get a hot chick like Leslie Caron), on being ejected from the school where he taught history for having no necktie:

"I thought they'd be more interested in what was in a man's head, not around his neck. Then I noticed: they all wore ties. They all looked alike, and they all behaved alike, and they all talked alike. Well, they were all going the same direction, no matter which way they said they were going. So what was the use of teaching them history? Or anything? They weren't learning by it. Still creating the same world problems. So, I packed, got on a boat, and got away from them."

Well, I've got the boat. Now I just have to pack, get on it, and get away from them. I'm not running away, I'm escaping.

Posted by Patrick Yancey at October 15, 2004 05:36 PM

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