A man I saw today....

The field, probably once part of a farm from many years ago, is set near the highway, probably there long before the highway was ever even thought of. It was a desolate field, bleak and empty except for the slabs of stone, lying throughout. Some of the stones were accompanied by old dried out flowers that had been cut weeks before and left to weather the elements. A few even had fresh flowers lying near them. The flowers were a kind of tribute, not to the stones but to what the stones represent, many that placed them there are the last to guard in their hearts what it is, who it is, they honor with the flowers.
The weather is cold and dreary; the wind burns deep, to the bone. One man stands alone on a hill in the field, he is old, his black overcoat and his dark green scarf, knitted by his granddaughter, try to keep out the chill. The wind blows his thin gray hair as he leans down to lay his small bundle of flowers on the plain gray stone, though it does not compare to the stately and even elaborate ones that are nearby, it mean so much more to the old man. The memories it represents still flow through his dusty mind as if they were yesterday, even though many thing have faded in his mind, the memories of love do not fade. His shoulders are hunched over as he hides his face from the biting wind; tears roll down his wrinkled face, hidden from his children, from the happy grandchildren he is so fond of; tears that he shares only with the solitude and silence; he doesn’t cry from pain or hate but from the love he always holds in his heart and the memory of that love, the memory that the gray slab of stone represents to the world, a memory he will always hold dear.

I was investigating some of the WWII institutions near Ukraine, in hopes to identify the abandoned underground “bunkers” I, and another, explored while in L’viv a couple of summers ago (called Lvov, Poland at the time of WWII). Though I did come across a lot of interesting facts regarding L’viv’s position and involvement in the war I couldn’t figure out what these bunkers actually were used for; possibly part of one of the many POW camps located in and around L’viv? One interesting thing I came across though, while researching POW camps, was why the German’s decided to “gas” POW’s instead of shooting them, as was the normal practice. The reason was simply to be “humane”, a concept that seem hardly to fit with that regime. The problem was, as German leaders notices, after the firing squads would kill hundreds of Jews, POW's, Russian villagers etc. the soldiers would be virtually useless; after participating in these mass murders they would be so emotionally disturbed that they become worthless to the German cause. The German command couldn’t stomach seeing their people’s lives ruined like this so they experimented and later implemented techniques for killing chemically, in an efficient and factory like way, as used in the killing factory of Auschwitz in the dreaded block #11. Killing this way, their own patriotic followers would be kept emotionally intact while systematically executing the people that had been dehumanized in their distorted view. See, the Nazi’s really were a humanitarian people. Hah!

season's greetings!

I was thinking of doing some kinda Christmas greeting with a Christmas Carol or something but I discovered the sound quality of my camera kinda stinks..and the lack of music makes it even worse and......(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF4W-oAWras)
Haha, okay, I think I better stick to lip-syncing with a group. But I hope ya'll are having a wonderful holiday season as you look forward to and prepare for Christmas.