Let me tell you what is wrong with jokes about the great fallen of any side. When you joke about it, it lessens the impact of those deaths on your psyche..........kind of makes it OK. This is not a new thing, the generals have been using the tactic for centuries to get young men to slaughter each other. As much as I agree with Brendy, I hope you never have to be faced with being killed or killing. Both are horrific and frightening experiences. May I relate to you a thing that occurred to me? I was at a party, the craic was fierce, I was down about 4 jars of the dark stuff.........and this rather loud and obnoxious fella (Shamrock Yank) was sitting across the table braggin' about the money he had raised, and how "we had gotten this many Brits, and we had shot down a Brit Chopper.....". I let this jerk go for a bit, but after a while old instincts took over and I could stand no more. Unfortunately, I grabbed him by his neck and pulled him over the table and asked him what the fuck he knew about killing any thing?? And I further inquired, in an ever so gentle way, if he had ever felt the little shudder that a body gives as the soul leaves it?? And I concluded by questioning whether, in his fucking state of supreme enlightenment, he had ever considered that these "Brits" had Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Sons and Daughters that loved them and now were reduced to fucking weeping at a tombstone for a loved who had to fight and die away from their home?????? THAT IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH FUCKING JOKING ABOUT ALL THIS!!!!!!!!!! One should never doubt that I believe that the Republican cause is a just one, and that Ireland, divided, shall never be free. But it is abhorrent to think that one would still think it is OK to ***grin*** over the deaths of people engaged in a struggle for someting that they believe in so strongly that they would engage in cealachan (starving ones self to death at the door of ones enemy).

This isn't about the rightness or wrongness of the respective political positions. It is about honoring the memory of brave soldiers. Here's to the warriors, may they fight for just causes, and worthy leaders and may they rest in peace.

Mick