Does it Matter?The soldiers will fight off rats and cockroaches in the dank hovels of the Army's hospitals as they lie in their beds missing legs or eyes or brains...Does it matter?—losing your legs?...
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.Does it matter ?—losing your sight?...
There's such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.Do they matter?—those dreams from the pit?...
You can drink and forget and be glad,
And people won't say that you're mad;
For they'll know you've fought for your country
And no one will worry a bit.-- Siegfried Sassoon, 1918
And no one will worry a bit.
-- Badtux the Poetry Penguin
You are so right. My uncle lost his leg and his potency in WW2 in Germany. In his home he had many posters of the campaigns, his medals and letters from his buddies. Now he's in an assisted living place, and those things are gone. His wife couldn't handle being married without the possibility of children; so she left in 1947. A second cousin is caring for him; I'm too far away and I don't know him at all. He withdrew from the world. But, I remember his laughter from before...And, I will care
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