In 1914, a boy chained his bike to a tree to fight in the war. And he....

[Are_grits_groceries]

“@Earth_Pics:
In 1914, a boy chained his bike to a tree to fight in the war. He never returned........


Poignant and a perfect example of the the waste of future hopes and dreams.
Too many bikes chained to too many trees......

[Democracyinkind]

1. Just wow.

Thank you so much for sharing this. Very powerful message.

[Victor_c3]

2. The waste in war sickens me too

I read something a while back stating that 5% of all people on our planet who died between 1900-1999 died as a result of war.

[pinboy3niner]

3. I lost my youth and innocence to war

And I'm only one of millions...those who survived...and those who didn't.

[backtoblue]

31. ...

[Hissyspit]

4. Well, not quite:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/bicycle.asp

[Are_grits_groceries]

6. Well, gee thanks.

It can be a metaphor. Will that do?
I am soooooo glad there are people who correct everything on DU.

[Hissyspit]

8. Yeah, it works as a metaphor.

And that's the way I was taking it, but people should know facts, too.

[Android3.14]

13. The saccharine, It Burns!

Right, you only meant it as a metaphor.
Any time I see a internet reference that is only meant to inspire others to act in ways contrary to their own interests, I check it out.
Thanks Hissyspit.

[Are_grits_groceries]

16. What are you talking about?

If I had a motive, it would be to make people think about what is lost in war. That gets overlooked too many times.
And I have asked nobody to actively DO anything but think. You apparently have carried this into some hypothetical realm where gawd knows what is going on. You are welcome to it.

[OldDem2012]

20. What exactly do you mean by, "inspire others to act in ways contrary to their own interests"? nt.

[snooper2]

32. You shouldn't need snopes to know that by the way, see the plastic grips?

We weren't that smart in 1914

Also notice the more modern hardware...


You wouldn't do real good on American Pickers

[Fla_Democrat]

23. Just plain common sense

but thanks for the snopes.

Tales abound explaining how a red bicycle came to be lodged in a Vashon tree a dozen feet up

Anyone who has seen a tree grow through a fence could tell right off that was not how the bike got 12 feet off the ground.

[roxy1234]

25. Thanks for the correction

War lovers would always try to mind a way to romanticize war fighting. Pathetic

[Are_grits_groceries]

28. And how does that romanticize war?

Young people all over the US would never ride their bikes again. It is a reminder of the cost of war. It is not some huge statue exhalting anyone.

[Scootaloo]

5. Hissyspit got there before I could

Yeah, this sucker has nothing to do with WWI at all.

And I should know, it's the mascot of the whole island

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. Then consider it a metaphor.

Will that meet your approval?

[Scootaloo]

9. What need metaphor?

It's not like the losses of war are distant and hard to find. Most are far more poignant and moving than this, as well. I'm not arguing your point, but I do think there are better ways - much better ways - than a treacly chain mail that's just flat-out not true.

[Are_grits_groceries]

10. Good for you.

Glad you are around to judge what should and shouldn't be used as a model. And as far as more poignant ways to highlight wars' waste, don't you dare lecture me about what's been wasted when you have no idea but my history.

[Android3.14]

14. DU is all about being daring.

Funny how no one ever lays down a glove and states, "Don't you dare post false information as if it were true."

[Are_grits_groceries]

18. And you know so much about DU how?

I wasn't intentionally posting false info. I don't think to run to Snopes at every story I read, especially when it's logical. Correcting the story is good, but it seemed to be dismissive of the whole thing and what it could represent.

And I have very personal reasons about not being lectured about wars.

[REP]

11. Weeping sphinx, WWI Memorial, KCMO

[Sherman A1]

17. That is a nice place.

visited there several years ago and found it to be well worth the visit.

[adieu]

12. Watch Joyeux Noel

a movie about World War I in which the combatants, Irish, French and Germans joined together over Christmas time to sing and play a bit of soccer before returning to war. It shows the futility and pointlessness of war. War isn't fought by the men on the front lines. They're fought by the people behind the front lines using the men on the front lines as cannon fodder.

War, such a sad waste of human lives.

[Jericoni]

15. Re

That was a complete different thought.

[Locrian]

19. images....

these always kills me

[pinboy3niner]

21. And this one...

[roxy1234]

24. This one always gets me

[link:|

[progressoid]

34. and...

[Spider Jerusalem]

22. I can walk about a half a mile and see a war memorial with the names of several dozen boys...

who went off to fight in that war and never returned. And more in the next town a few miles away. And you can't walk through a cemetery in any fair-sized city here (the UK) without seeing dozens of such memorials. "In memory of John Smith, beloved son, killed at the Somme, 1916" and so on.



That's just one not very large town; there are hundreds like it in almost every city, town and village in Britain (there were only three villages in the whole of the British Isles that didn't lose someone in WWI; 4% of the UK's male population died in the war).

[Javaman]

27. In Flanders Fields

(this poem always gets me when I read it)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Inspiration for “In Flanders Fields”


Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery. (1)

During the early days of the Second Battle of Ypres a young Canadian artillery officer, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed on 2nd May, 1915 in the gun positions near Ypres. An exploding German artillery shell landed near him. He was serving in the same Canadian artillery unit as a friend of his, the Canadian military doctor and artillery commander Major John McCrae.

As the brigade doctor, John McCrae was asked to conduct the burial service for Alexis because the chaplain had been called away somewhere else on duty that evening. It is believed that later that evening, after the burial, John began the draft for his now famous poem “In Flanders Fields”.

[Are_grits_groceries]

29. My great-great aunt was on a train with a soldier who fought near Flanders.

He gave her some poppy seeds. She planted them behind my Grandmama's house, and they grew into a magnificent red tangle. I always think of the train, those poppies, and all the soldiers buried over there.

[Javaman]

30. That's a moving story.

When I first read that peom many years ago, I then began looking upon poppies in a much different manner.

I now view their beauty as heart breaking statement to humanity.

[Robb]

26. Trees always win.

I took this one a few years back.

[montanto]

33. And yet it's clearly not a bike from that era.

Cool photo though.

[octothorpe]

35. Small bike... Did they send him off to war at age 3?

[alphafemale]

36. Well. At least he didn't leave his dog tied to a tree.

That might really be sad.

[cthulu2016]

37. Odd that he chained it so high

A thing afixed to a tree trunk does not move upward as the tree grows.

Trees 101.

Also, it's odd that he had a bike from the future. (That bike is obviously not from 1914)

Also, odd that something incredibly rare to the point of being freakish (bikes that trees have enfolded) would be used to comment on how common something is.

I agree that war sucks, but there has to be a better way to experss it.