Night Before Battle

"It takes politics to be in tanks. "

"You gotta be hardcore to man the phones and knock on doors."

"You must sincerely believe and be utterly committed in order that you sacrifice yourself, your life and your dignity to a cause to which you
believe in . "

The quote that begins this piece is a terrible paraphrase of the original now that I've looked it up but the essence is there.

"You got to have a lot of political development to be a good tank man now"

You did then. You do now. You always will.

Soooo...
Why this topic?

This in one of Hemingway's best and least recognized stories yet so appropriate now. Even more so  because it was Hemingway as himself, the young reporter, on the spot,  but rendering into fiction a world that could not be perceived any other way.

Casual chat about German 88's clocking mirror flashes on his position and having to run. Finger painting cryptic graffiti in the dust of the  windows of his camera man's car for fun. Morbid hi jinks reminiscent of modern news stories from Sarajevo under siege.

Spanish waiters...the bizarre reality of a front line a kilometer away from downtown restaurants.
 
(( Oh...we are *used to that now aren't we?...Syria? ))

I can't scratch the surface of the story...and whatever I could say has probably been said...whatev I'm not an English prof.

I was drawn to that spirit of commitment since that idea haunts me as so many of his lines and scenes do.

Going into battle puts it out there.

Where rises the belief system?  It used to be bound to place and land.  

(( followers of a sports team will say it still does though though less so in a world where online I meet hardcore Liverpool fans from Nigeria))

 Fealty can also be granted  to a charismatic figure...regardless of motive.  Then there are those who vote/activate along the lines of ideals, suffering sometimes the cross purposes of those who rise to power since, lets face it, social idealism and focused power are bound to come in conflict at some point.

btw...*true* communism has never been practiced as a political system. We've had a lot of dictatorships masquerading as such which have been made into nightmare figures by the equally nightmarish capitalist demons..

(( oh..it has in a few places...and where it was..it was ruthlessly crushed by either the church or the capitilist state))

So...
Night Before Battle.
In case you hadn't guessed we have a provincial election coming up here in BC.
Voting on Tuesday 14
Yeah...I'm in tanks with the good guys.

PS.
oh..there is an addendum about suicide bombers since this is a much more complicated topic than I can address in just this post.  I've already written it...so whateve... whether you like it or not I'll post it soon.