There is Just the Dead
by C. L. Cook
There is no law. Justice is dead. There is no honour; just death. There is no democracy. Democracy was killed.
A moment of silence please in passing remembrance of three men killed dead for democracy and justice and the rule of law. Three Canadian men gone, killed for a country that predeceased them.
They left yesterday local time, improvised to smithereens by an
explosive device placed by the side of the Kabul road. Their stricken
families will be brave, brave as the other 90 were when they heard of
the untimely ends of their own. A cousin to one of yesterday's fallen
is quoted in the media speaking of his kin. He said;
 "He just
wanted to make a difference and believe that he was doing right. And he
had the support from his family and friends, and that he was doing the
right thing."
Cpl. Dustin Roy Robert Joseph Wasden
was one of three Canadian soldiers killed Wednesday. (DND)
There is no right thing. "Right" and "Wrong"
are gone. Morality is kaput; it ended with history. Belief may remain
and comfort and support the survivors, and its as surely finished
too.
George W. Bush is quoted by a famed dragon slayer of yore
philosophically summing up what it means to have lived and died and
represented briefly a portion of the million year continuum of human
consciousness. He said;
"History? We don't know. We'll all be dead."
Dead
like history. Dead like three dead men from a dead country, dying for
dead democracy in a dusty graveyard half a dying planet away. Dead like
we'll all be; dead, dying for what we don't know.
One of the three came
from a small town near mine. The premier, representative of the
province that claims that ground, is quoted speaking to the media about
the local dead man. He said;
 "Today, British Columbians are
mourning the loss of a dedicated soldier who made the ultimate
sacrifice while pursuing the goal of peace and safety for Afghanistan
and the world."
Sapper Stephan John Stock
was one of the Canadians killed on a dangerous strip of Afghan highway. (DND)
Peace is dead. There is no safety. In numbers,
or alone, no-one is coming to your rescue. There is no law, just
jungle. Nobody gets out alive. So why not kick back at Life through the
only agency provided, Death?
If History will obscurate me, the
nihilist says, "I will it first dead." If Democracy's flame burns too
faintly to feed the dictator's desire, the demagogue declares, "Certify
it dead." If there be no Peace but ever-after Darkness then there will
no safety. "Make a fire of bodies, stoke it ever so the flame never
dies and all come to fear the light."
And so it is done.
More
logs will be thrown on that damned pyre before this dictator is done.
The media will soon quote the cousins and brothers and sisters and moms
and dads of those next lumpen cast into the crucible, sacrificed to the
existential vanity of maniacs. They will say;
 "He just wanted to
make a difference and believe that he was doing right. And he had the
support from his family and friends, and that he was doing the right
thing."
Sgt. Shawn Eades was a combat engineer with 12 Field Squadron, 1 Combat Engineer Regiment from Edmonton, Alberta. (DND)
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