Dignity and Courage

It is impossible not to be moved and inspired by the dignity, courage and candour of Christina Schmid as she exhibits star quality in grief at the loss of her hero husband in Afghanistan. Like all the families caught in the sudden shattering of their lives, not just now, but through all those wars past,with their roll call of countless millions, comfort comes from that certainty of purpose, that the fight is a good fight, that sacrifice has meaning and after the tears, greater good will come for all to share.

Yet for me, as readers of my blogs will know, I am of the staunch view that this Afghan war is misconceived and is the cause, not the solution of the problems it seeks to quell. Therefore I am bound to see the deaths of brave young soldiers as wanton and unnecessary, even wicked, because those who divine that they should go into harms way, stay safe and cosy thousands of miles from the risk.

When I see a grieving widow, often clutching sobbing children, or watch the silent crowd lining that doleful highway through Wooton Bassett, united in tribute to these fallen heroes, I am tormented by the thought that this need not, should not, have happened. Yet I am removed from the core and intensity of this emotional turmoil. I am of the league of the cosy who are not a part of this. I have my views. I am sure I am right. 

But so are those who, as I write this now, risk their lives in the belief, and they do believe, that my freedom to blog in safety will be made more secure by the risks they run for me, for us all. That gives them a nobility of spirit which unites them with us, whatever we believe, so that in our respect for their dearest, no troubled thought shall dim the burnish of that golden thread that binds us as a nation.