Mark Twain's War Prayer

[vlyons]

Mark Twain said everything there is to say about anything. It's been a while since I read his War Prayer. Everyone should be familiar with it. Please read the whole thing.

https://warprayer.org/

[redqueen]

1. K&R

[TreasonousBastard]

2. One of my favorites for years.

[The Magistrate]

3. 'King Leopold's Soliloquy' Is Worth A Look, Too, Ma'am

Mr. Clemens was a marvel.

[lastlib]

4. Dayum--How did I read so much Twain.....

and never hear of this??

That is AWESOME!

[Bluethroughu]

5. This is what happens after talking to MAGAs.

Same as it ever was.

[Glorfindel]

6. From "The Mysterious Stranger," by Mark Twain:

"Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane—like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell—mouths mercy and invented hell—mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!...

“You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks—in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier.

“It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream—a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought—a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!”

He vanished, and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all he had said was true."

[Bluethroughu]

9. Excellent, I'm loving these posts!

There is comfort in thought processes, orated in excellence.

[niyad]

7. Thank you. I used to keep a copy with me after 9/11. PBS did a

dramatization of it with (if I remember correctly) Ed Begley Jr.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. I thought about posting a part of it yesterday, but I figured it would only upset people.

Last edited Thu Oct 12, 2023, 02:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Each side would be outraged that I was betraying The Truth by supporting the other side.

Thanks. And good afternoon.

[vlyons]

15. There is more than enough blame to go around

nt

[Magoo48]

10. Thank You for posting.

[wnylib]

11. In a similar vein, there is the Peace Prayer of St. Francis

I am not Catholic, but I heard this prayer every Saturday morning on the radio in my predominantly Catholic home town. According to Wikipedia, St. Francis was most likely not the author of the prayer attributed to him, but the Order of St. Francis recommends the prayer.

Scroll down to the "TEXT" section to read the entire original version.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_Saint_Francis

[mymomwasright]

12. Always tried to relate this story to my Marine peers

Just to give some gravity to our occasional situations. There's always a flip side to everything.

[PatrickforB]

13. That's absolutely outstanding! Thank you so much for posting. I had never read it. n/t

[Bo Zarts]

14. "Dulce et Decorum est"

A poem by Wilfred Owen

[Xavier Breath]

16. I never even knew that this work existed.

My high school lit teacher just skimmed right by it, I guess. But now that I have finally read it, I am all the richer for it.

Thanks for posting this