Torn Flags, Torn Hearts and Bodies

Maybe you have noticed the Ukrainian flags outside

In Europe there are quite a few hanging at institutions, schools, but also near houses. But upon closer examination they are often torn, broken into many pieces and scattered in the wind. These flags clearly weren't meant for continuous exposure to the weather and/or were cheaply produced in e.g. China. Yet people don't really take them down and replace them. At least I have seen quite a few over the last months that would suggest this. Instead what remains is highly symbolic for the Ukrainian state and its people as it so clearly shows how their hearts and bodies are now torn into pieces after almost 2 years of war.

I don't want to make this into a political post. But I do want to make this statement: the lives of people seem to be worth almost nothing. Perhaps this is a universal statement for all of human history. Have lives ever been worth something? Countless millions and billions (?) of lives have been lost throughout history through war. I always thought that we had had become a bit less barbaric, especially after the 2nd World War. But looking at today's conflicts that does not really seem to be the case.

Already around half a million (!) lives have been lost in this war. It's such a big number that we cannot really comprehend it. Imagine a major city just wiped away... I can't. But so little seem to care. Especially the politicians that are screaming for more weapons and lives to get sacrificed in this madness. What happened to diplomacy? What happened to peace? Why are the people calling for such looked at as if they were cold and heartless? I feel much is turned on its head these days. Perhaps we really do already live in what Orwell coined "doublespeak". Right is wrong and lies are truths.

When the means to an end become justified, human lives are worth little more than the pebbles on a beach. To uphold a state is to justify the slaughter of hundreds of thousands and millions. Who gives these orders? Who brings these thoughts into this world? Surely not the men, women and children that are directly effected by war. It's the people in illusory power. Just like the Kings of the past have given these orders, governments command them and corporations empower them by producing the weapons of war.

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