Lessons of Suffering
May. 8th, 2005 05:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misscamI am in a foul mood. Sometimes, all the little things that annoy you in life just seems to gather up and become something that makes you want to howl. Most of it is not even significant. But today is not a good day to annoy me. I hurt.
Speaking of hurt...
Today is May 8th, Norway's liberation day. Sixty years ago, five years of German occupation ended. And it ended peacefully, which was almost a miracle. Everything that could go right, did go right at the end for us. We were lucky.
The occupation was a violation of Norwegian sovereignty, and my land did suffer loses and parts of it was burned. But yet, I sometimes wonder if in the long run my country is now better off for it. Before the war, it was a divided country along classlines. Political parties didn't trust each other, the unions and the higher class were eyeing each other with distrust. The war united us, made us all Norwegian. Trust was built, class divides paled. The resistance work built alliances across mistrust, and when the peace came, the unity stayed. Our Royal family became a symbol of Norway and unity, the country threw itself into reconstruction in more than one way. And the stability of the post-war time is still here. Today, I honour those who bled for my country's freedom. I mourn those who were lost on both sides.
War is not a good thing. Blood and suffering and death follows in its wake and can make victims and villains of all. But if we can do good with what it has left us, rebuild and learn, the dead can be honoured and their blood need not be meaningless. WW2 was a tragedy that should never have been in some many ways. But the Europe we now have is better for it.
I've always believed in fighting suffering and misery and humans shouldn't have to endure as much pain as we inflict upon each other. But I cannot deny that what doesn't break us can make us stronger.
WW2, for all its horridness, all its endless suffering and blood, made my country stronger, as it did others. I don't think acknowledging that makes it any less an ugly war that should not have been. But perhaps it does tell us something about humanity. Like the universe that created us, we destroy and rebuild. We are more terrible together, yet also better together.
Perhaps one day we need not have suffering teach us the lessons needed to go forward. Then again, perhaps we'll always need them. One day, our ashes shall be swallowed by the star that brought us life anyway. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, starstuff to starstuff. All we can do is make the best of all we've suffered and all we've lost in the time we have.
Today, I honour what the lost and suffered of Norway's war. I hope the country we have today would have pleased you. I hope what was endured need never be so again. I hope that if it is, we can rebuild better yet again. I hope... I hope so much we can be better.
I hope. In the end, it is all I have to offer.
Speaking of hurt...
Today is May 8th, Norway's liberation day. Sixty years ago, five years of German occupation ended. And it ended peacefully, which was almost a miracle. Everything that could go right, did go right at the end for us. We were lucky.
The occupation was a violation of Norwegian sovereignty, and my land did suffer loses and parts of it was burned. But yet, I sometimes wonder if in the long run my country is now better off for it. Before the war, it was a divided country along classlines. Political parties didn't trust each other, the unions and the higher class were eyeing each other with distrust. The war united us, made us all Norwegian. Trust was built, class divides paled. The resistance work built alliances across mistrust, and when the peace came, the unity stayed. Our Royal family became a symbol of Norway and unity, the country threw itself into reconstruction in more than one way. And the stability of the post-war time is still here. Today, I honour those who bled for my country's freedom. I mourn those who were lost on both sides.
War is not a good thing. Blood and suffering and death follows in its wake and can make victims and villains of all. But if we can do good with what it has left us, rebuild and learn, the dead can be honoured and their blood need not be meaningless. WW2 was a tragedy that should never have been in some many ways. But the Europe we now have is better for it.
I've always believed in fighting suffering and misery and humans shouldn't have to endure as much pain as we inflict upon each other. But I cannot deny that what doesn't break us can make us stronger.
WW2, for all its horridness, all its endless suffering and blood, made my country stronger, as it did others. I don't think acknowledging that makes it any less an ugly war that should not have been. But perhaps it does tell us something about humanity. Like the universe that created us, we destroy and rebuild. We are more terrible together, yet also better together.
Perhaps one day we need not have suffering teach us the lessons needed to go forward. Then again, perhaps we'll always need them. One day, our ashes shall be swallowed by the star that brought us life anyway. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, starstuff to starstuff. All we can do is make the best of all we've suffered and all we've lost in the time we have.
Today, I honour what the lost and suffered of Norway's war. I hope the country we have today would have pleased you. I hope what was endured need never be so again. I hope that if it is, we can rebuild better yet again. I hope... I hope so much we can be better.
I hope. In the end, it is all I have to offer.
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no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 10:49 pm (UTC)I do think it's important to acknowledge that good comes from bad, as long as we don't use the fact to justify the continuation of doing bad. It makes me more aware and understanding of those who got the bad deal from what happened in history and are still suffering from it.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-08 01:13 am (UTC)Today, 60 years ago, my country was not vanquished, but liberated as well. Liberated from itself. I just wish to God (or whatever higher power which might listening, if any) that all Germans would have recognized by now that no, we were not defeated. We were finally freed.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-08 07:37 pm (UTC)Thank-you for this.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-08 08:17 pm (UTC)There was also a television special on the liberation of Norway not too long ago. I forgot to watch it, but it wasn't for the lack of not wanting to. When I saw it advertised, I thought "That's Cam's neck of the woods." and was glad that my country played a role in such an important historical event.
Someday I'd like to go visit Norway and to some of the locations that were important in WW2. Perhaps we could go together. :)