"War is Hell!" said Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, as the United States' Civil War wound down to its awful, inevitable conclusion. Sherman was in process of marching his revived US troops down the length of Georgia, sometime after his conquest with General Ulysses Grant of the entrenched but hungry Confederate garrison at Vicksburg.
It was not a happy occasion for anybody, except one of profound gratitude from soldiers and civilians who had survived four years of ghastly combat. In this information age, wars no less lethal are fought daily over the internet, as corporate and political reputations are burnished or destroyed and billions (!) are made or lost from decisions taken by CEO's of questionable ethics and judgment.
Despite daily sad news of another mass shooting by some unstable grudge-holder, this country as a whole is not being - at least publicly - assaulted.
The same may not be said, of course, of long-embattled Ukraine and its bravest defenders, prominent among these being the International Brigade of volunteers who recognize a moral debt to assist a smaller nation whose character is, like our own, democratic. The IV's contribution, including the ultimate one of dying in combat, is considerable.
Respect is given to the fallen, in church and synagogue. Sad funerals are held, where wives and daughters of fallen friends mingle and share fresh grief of young widows.
The long, slow sonorously hideous dance of war in Eastern Europe is at last approaching its end. Not for the first time; but please, God, for the last. Notorious Russian mercenary commander Prigozhin brazenly announces, via his own info-network, that he will now take his dead bodies and go "home" - wherever that is.
For war is indeed obscene, and the massive obscenity of innocent suffering and murder resultant from Putin's vanity and Prigozhin's greed is impossible to ignore. Time for them all to go home, both those who have fought for Ukraine with courageous patriotism and those who try to destroy its people and wipe Ukraine's independence off the earth.
Vladimir Putin's imaginary fantasy of a restored - and self-invented - concept of Mother Russkiya holding sovereign sway over much of the world has been exposed as impractical: there are not enough men willing to serve among those left in Russia, and much of a considerable Russian braintrust of elites has departed for points west.
On the battlefield at Bakhmut, insufficient, dated hardware crumbles and misfires as one by one, the Russian mercenaries fall like litter or leaves in gusting wind. Far too many mothers and fathers on both sides of conflict have experienced the worst grief of all - the loss of a child. While the Kremlin scrambles to find out who is shooting drones in its direction (probable: Russian partisans unfond of Putin), and prepares draft after draft of documents frantically trying to close the conflict without admitting outright defeat, Ukrainian President Zelensky has come into his own.
He is not a tall man, but his steadiness and courage during many months of leading his nation under attack have made his presence and statements impact hugely on global news networks. He is a leader for the ages - not in conquest, but in his and the Ukrainians' utter refusal to be bowed. He is representative of a whole nation which struggled for years to come out of the darkness of Communist overlords, and having begun to taste freedom, will never again give it up.
Ukraine is a nation more than willing to govern itself and trade with others in peace. Russia, alas, is slowly being awoken from a decades-long stupor of "let Moscow do it......." and willful ignorance of just what Moscow is up to. The dreaded Russian bear is dying, and leaders who worship at the shrine of world domination are aging out of time and will soon be gone.
There is hope for Russia in the next millenium, as there is certainly hope for the gallant Ukrainians, who understand clearly that, while an enemy may kill their bodies, it can never, ever kill an idea: freedom.
Linda Berry is a Northsider.
