Why do I post a picture of a simple brush?
First of all, this is not an ordinary brush. It’s my nuclear brush, a part of my survival kit from my compulsory National Service in the Norwegian Army in the 1980s. I found it today when I needed to clean some mud off my walking shoes.
We could use it to brush snow off the uniform in the winter to avoid getting wet and cold. And, in the event of a nuclear conflict, we were supposed to brush off radioactive fallout to remain alive and in service for a while, at least until our internal organs started to dissolve.
Why? For what?
So that we could win the war, of course.
No one ever wins a war. Ever. You can beat the enemy; for instance, in World War 2, they managed to stop Nazi aggression. But win?
According to worldpopulationreview.com, the UK lost 451,000 people in this war. The US lost 419,000. France lost 600,000. The Soviet Union lost somewhere between 20 and 27 MILLION people.
These countries, among others, “won” the war.
Germany lost the war and almost 6 million people. Worldwide, more than 70 million people lost their lives because of this war. About 24 million of these were soldiers. The rest were civilians killed by the warfare itself, famine, or disease.
What a glorious victory for mankind.
However, if the post-WW2 nuclear nightmare had come true, it would have been the definite end to the human species and every other living thing on the planet.
I so wish I could have said this was a bad memory from long ago, something that will never happen again. We have learned now, haven’t we?
Tragically, it seems like there are enough of them left still, the world leaders who think human annihilation is an acceptable measure to defend whatever political or religious symbols they print on their banners.
Their symbols and their slogans don’t matter. They are all the same.
Tiny, tiny men who need power, wealth and other people’s suffering to feel a little bit taller.
I found an old, worn brush today, and it made me think…
Let’s hope the weather gets better.
