"Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred..."
Death happens. It happened in Tennyson’s time. It’s happening now, in this generation, to us. I am reminded of his "Charge of the Light Brigade" as 20,000 more of our troops are being ordered into the Iraqi "sandpit" of death.
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Not 600. Instead, 20,000. Not cannonballs. Instead, bombs and radioactive uranium. Not a valley. Instead, a dusty desert battlefield. But the question is still — why?
Has mankind not evolved enough to value reason above unquestioning obedience? How about instead choosing a reason to live? To live, and let live, and even to help others to live.
Barbara Upton
Fountain
