I'm new to all this, and this is where it all starts, I guess. Time to share my life, and my thoughts, with the world - and perhaps the chance for others to share the same with me.
I am a single 53 year old man, divorced, and living in Montreal, Canada.
A lyrical soul, a soapbox, and an internet connection makes for a fine combination.
I don't know where it will all lead, nor where it will all end, but each and every journey begins with it's first step.
And this is mine...
I am a romantic Bedouin, Walking across the endless desert of this lonely night, These burning sands of time shifting slowly beneath my feet, Dwarfed by this endless horizon of emotions, Defining me while holding me in it's grasp.
My soul is parched, and yet each time when all seems lost, Your love guides me like the bright crescent moon ever onward, Just across the next horizon, hanging there, So large and inviting I can almost reach out and touch it, And cradle it softly in my hands.
Let me find the strength to reach that dream oasis of your love, And find it's not again a mirage, another empty disappointment, Another crushing blow, And to find shelter there, a chance to rest, And swim gently in the deep calm water of your love, A journey ended, and yet also just begun.
Here's another example of how thinking outside the box, or perhaps in this case thinking about the box, can lead to some very interesting benefits.
Shipping containers.
It seems that some people are now turning them into houses, and they are not what you'd expect.
Shipping containers find new life as homes
Inexpensive and abundant, they’re turning into affordable housing
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - This takes a little inside- and a whole lot of outside-the-box thinking. What looks like and lives like a house is actually a shipping container.
"I call it my bunker," says Rosalynn Kearney of her container home.
Used to import almost everything we use and wear, shipping containers are now a new concept in affordable housing.
The containers are claimed to be hurricane-proof, fire-resistant, and there's not a termite to be found.
With America exporting so little, shipping companies face the dilemma of what to do with these 32,000-pound containers. Increasingly too expensive to ship back overseas empty, these steel boxes — which can be as large as 20-by-48-feet — are stacked high, sitting in ports around the country. There are as many as 300,000 containers, by some estimates. And they're cheap — ranging from $500 to $2,000 for an unused container.
In hurricane-prone Florida, more container houses are going up, though when finished you'd hardly know they're different from any other house.
"In the spirit of recycling, we're able to take a product that is just sitting idle and recycle it and put it to a use in a way that helps solve our country's affordable housing crisis," says Askia Muhammad Aquil of St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing.
Atlanta wants 300 units of multistory housing using the containers, and California wants four stories of them for the elderly. In just one day, a crane and a welder can have a container house ready to finish. If time is money, builders say containers are both.
"We can build it for 65 percent of the buildout cost anywhere in the U.S., and it can be built in half the time," Soren Ludwig with Sustain our World says.
This creative concept offers some amazing potential , where cheap housing is needed. It also provides a large range of possible housing, from the ultra inexpensive to the moderate range.
It could easily be used to assist Third World countries, as well as countries in the West. Indeed the fact is that these houses would actually be quite easy to transport, based on their origins. They could be made in a modular way, and could even be stacked on sites to provide multilevel housing , a critical concern in areas with high population density.
Amsterdam actually has an example of that type of project :
Shipping containers are in many ways an ideal building material. They are strong and resistant to the elements while also being durable and stackable, simplifying construction. Structures made from them can be disassembled, moved, and then reassembled with ease. They are also quite common and relatively cheap in North America in general and the USA in particular. The relative cheapness is a result of the imbalance in manufactured goods in North American trade. The USA imports much more manufactured goods than it exports and those goods come and go in containers. As a result that country, and to a lesser extent its neighbors in North America, has more empty containers than it can fill and these empties are often made available for uses such as architecture.
The Nomadic Museum is composed of 152 shipping containers. It was constructed to house a photography exhibit in New York City in 2005, was dismantled, and was reassembled in Santa Monica, California in early 2006.
Containers are an extremely flexible method of construction, being both modular in shape, extremely strong structurally and readily available. Container Cities offer an alternative solution to traditional space provision. They are ideal for office and workspace, live-work and key-worker housing.
Container Cities do not even have to look like containers! It is a relatively simple matter to completely clad a building externally in a huge variety of materials.
Finally the benefits of Container Cities can truly be seen in short and medium term land use projects. Short-life sites can have Container Cities that simply unbolt and can be relocated or stored when land is required for alternative uses. To date this alternative method of construction has successfully created youth centres, classrooms, office space, artists studios, live / work space, a nursery and retail space.
http://www.containercity.com/index.php?id=1
The strange thing is that something like this is relatively unknown here, when it could offer so much potential to people all over the world. Small communities could be made, quite quickly and efficiently, to provide low cost housing for people.
That would also empty the current inventory of such containers that now lie around the country unused, and provide needed jobs and housing while doing so.
If a concentrated effort was made, these same communities could also provide the chance to recycle other materials now wasted, be environmentally friendly , and even become a self financing project - if done with architectural students, volunteers, and the home owners themselves (using the Habitat model) .
Since that could be done anywhere , and the product shipped anywhere, then it makes for a much more flexible model for affordable housing. Since the cost would be so low, it could easily be paid off by the homeowners with low mortgages, perhaps in it's own centralized fund. Even if that mortgage was defaulted on, the actual structure might easily be moved somewhere else and another owner could take over it.
So , anyone else out there see this as a brilliant idea just waiting to be capitalized on ?
Today's topic of discussion is a fellow bloggers site "Overheard in New York ", which is often a good place to spend a few minutes of time if you are looking for some entertainment value.
It's a rather simple concept actually, where people send in notes of snippets of conversations they have overheard. Those can range from the profound to the profane - and sometimes both at exactly the same time.
Having been to New York once for the weekend, I still have distinct memories of just how wonderfully unique New Yorkers really are, when it comes to the way the express themselves. That, and the fact they aren't afraid to let the world know it.
If you check out this blog, you'll see this pretty clearly illustrated. It's like some Magic Eight Ball/Zen showroom exhibition of the human condition.
Some examples:
Really More of a Coat Hanger
Fashion suit: Please, help yourself to some breakfast. Fashion editor-type: No, thanks, I'm not really a food-person.
--Fashion event, Midtown
Many New Yorkers Are So Rude They're Not Allowed to Travel
Tourist dad with family, bumping into another tourist family: Excuse us! Thank you! Other family's tourist dad: Ugh! Rude New Yorkers! Nearby cop, to both: You do realize you're both tourists, right?
--48th & 5th
No! Wait, Now I Have to Start Over.
Rambling six-year-old: ... And when she came home, there was a body, and blood was everywhere 'cause he didn't clean up after he murdered someone, and that's when she realized-- Bored mom playing with cell: --That her husband was a slob?
--2 train
Frantic woman: Please help me! I need double-stick tape and a whistle!
--K-Mart, 34th St
I Wouldn't Mind Giving Her a Shot of Syllogism Myself
Dude #1: Dude, that girl is looking at you like a fat girl looks at cake. Dude #2: She is a fat girl. Dude #1: Fine. She is looking at you like you are cake.
But, Most Importantly, I Bought an IPhone
Guy #1: I haven't seen you in a while. What have you been up to? Guy #2: Well, I'm in the process of switching web hosts, and it's going to be saving me a few bucks a month. I just need to decide what Linux distribution to use. What about you? Guy #1: I got married and we had a baby. Guy #2: That's cool.
--Office, Midtown
Wait... a Squirrel?
Drunk guy: You know, in my next life time I want to be either reincarnated into a squirrel or into a tiny Mexican. Drunk girl: What?! Why a tiny Mexican? Why not a tiny Asian or Caucasian? Drunk guy: 'Cause tiny Mexicans are awesome! They're always funny, fit into small places, they work their asses off, and I can grow a cool mustache and get away with it! Why wouldn't you want to be a tiny Mexican?!
--53rd & 9th
Conductor: Ladies and gentlemen, I don't really care if we pull up to the station and your car door doesn't open. If you don't listen, I don't really care. Not my problem anymore, folks! I said it once and I ain't saying it again!
--LIRR, Jamaica station
Girl: We should spend less money on the war in Iraq and use it to help countries like Africa.
--Principles of Economics lecture, Columbia University
African man to African woman: I told you when you came to this country that you can't touch old people, you can't touch children, and you can't touch animals.
--Central Park, near W 63rd St entrance
Sad girl to friend: I'd feel better if I just had lemurs to talk to.
Here's another documentary I suggest you watch, if you want to see another side of the news - the one you don't often get to see.
"Buying the War" examines the press coverage in the lead-up to the war as evidence of a paradigm shift in the role of journalists in democracy and asks, four years after the invasion, what's changed? "More and more the media become, I think, common carriers of administration statements and critics of the administration," says THE WASHINGTON POST's Walter Pincus. "We've sort of given up being independent on our own."
It's an eye opener.
Enjoy.
Bill Moyers' Journal Buying the War
If you use the menu function, at the bottom right of that media player while it's playing, you'll find the rest of the show there to watch.
I'd like to offer you a chance to listen to a song that I find quite enchanting. It's in French, but it's melody alone is worth the listen.
It's a song by a well known Quebec artist and songwriter named Michel Rivard, called Je voudrais voir la mer
In English,that phrase translates to "I want to see the sea".
Those French lyrics are quite poetic, and lyrical. If you are lucky enough to understand French, here they are.
Je voudrais voir la mer Et ses plages d'argent Et ses falaises blanches Fières dans le vent Je voudrais voir la mer Et ses oiseaux de lune Et ses chevaux de brume Et ses poissons volants
Je voudrais voir la mer Quand elle est un miroir Où passent sans se voir Des nuages de laine Et les soirs de tempête Dans la colère du ciel Entendre une baleine Appeler son amour
{Refrain:} Je voudrais voir la mer Et danser avec elle Pour défier la mort Je voudrais voir la mer Et danser avec elle Pour défier la mort
Je voudrais voir la mer Avaler un navire Son or et ses canons Pour entendre le rire De cent millions d'enfants Qui n'ont pas peur de l'eau Qui ont envie de vivre Sans tenir un drapeau
Je voudrais voir la mer Ses monstres imaginaires Ses hollandais volants Et ses bateaux de guerre Son cimetière marin Et son lit de corail Où dorment les requins Dans des draps de satin
{au Refrain}
Je vis dans une bulle Au milieu d'une ville Parfois mon coeur est gris Et derrière la fenêtre Je sens tomber l'ennui Sur les visages blêmes Et sous les pas pesants Que traînent les passants Alors du fond de moi Se lève un vent du large Aussi fort que l'orage Aussi doux qu'un amour Et l'océan m'appelle D'une voix de velours Et dessine en mon corps Le mouvant Le mouvant de la vague
Je voudrais voir la mer Je voudrais voir la mer
Je voudrais voir la mer Se gonfler de soleil Devenir un bijou Aussi gros que la terre Je voudrais voir la mer Se gonfler de soleil Devenir un bijou Aussi gros que la terre
Je voudrais voir la mer Je voudrais voir la mer
Here's an translation that does little justice to those wonderful French lyrics :
I want to see the sea And its silver beaches And it's white cliffs Proud in the wind I want to see the sea And moon birds And it's fog horses And it's flying fish
I want to see the sea When she is a mirror Where going without being seen Clouds of wool And evening storm In the wrath of heaven Hear a whale Calling his love
(Chorus:) I want to see the sea And dance with her To defy death I want to see the sea And dance with her To defy death
I want to see the sea Swallow a ship It's gold and its guns To hear the laughter From one hundred million children Who are not afraid of the water Who want to live Without holding a flag
I want to see the sea It's imaginary monsters It's Flying Dutchmen And its warships Its marine cemetery And it's bed of coral Where the sharks sleep In satin sheets
I live in a bubble In the middle of a city Sometimes my heart is gray And behind the window I feel falling boredom On the blemished faces And under the heavy footsteps Which follow the passer's by While the depth of me Stirs a large breeze As strong as the storm As soft as love And the Ocean calls me In a voice of velvet And my body in shape The shifting The movement of the wave
I want to see the sea I want to see the sea
I want to see the sea Inflate the sun Becoming a jewel As large as the earth I want to see the sea Inflate the sun Becoming a jewel As big as the earth
I want to see the sea I want to see the sea
With all apologies to Michel Rivard, for the loss involved in that translation of those lyrics, which do them little justice.
To use an analogy, he's a bit like Quebec's version of John Lennon in terms of his impact on music here.
He used to be a member of Beau Dommage, one of the best known and loved Quebec bands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beau_Dommage">
He then went on as a solo artist to continue to produce great music, as he continues to do even today.
http:///en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Rivard
He's one of our great artists.
I'd like to thank him here for his incredible body of work.
Just seven days away from the fifty second anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg Trials, I thought it might be a good time to reflect on the rule of law it was based on, and it's relevance to today's world.
To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.
The case as presented by the United States will be concerned with the brains and authority back of all the crimes. These defendants were men of a station and rank which does not soil its own hands with blood. They were men who knew how to use lesser folk as tools. We want to reach the planners and designers, the inciters and leaders without whose evil architecture the world would not have been for so long scourged with the violence and lawlessness, and wracked with the agonies and convulsions, of this terrible war.
Robert H. Jackson Chief of Counsel for the United States Nuremberg Trials November 21, 1945
Some definitions :
Jus ad bellum
An international agreement limiting the justifiable reasons for a country to declare war against another is concerned with jus ad bellum. In addition to bilateral non-aggression pacts, the twentieth century saw multilateral treaties defining entirely new restrictions against going to war. The three most notable examples are the Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war as an instrument of national policy, the London Charter (known also as the Nuremberg Charter) defining "crimes against peace" as one of three major categories of international crime to be
prosecuted after World War II, and the United Nations Charter, which binds nations to seek resolution of disputes by peaceful means and requires authorization by the United Nations before a nation may initiate any use of force against another, beyond repulsing an immediate armed attack against its sovereign territory.
http:/
The UN Charter's prohibition of member states of the UN attacking other UN member states is central to the purpose for which the UN was founded in the wake of the destruction of World War II: to prevent war. This overriding concern is also reflected in the Nuremberg Trials' concept of a crime against peace "starting or waging a war against the territorial integrity, political independence or sovereignty of a state, or in violation of international treaties or agreements..." (crime against peace), which was held to be the crime that makes all war crimes possible.
A crime against peace, in international law, refers to the act of military invasion as a war crime, specifically referring to starting or waging war against the integrity, independence, or sovereignty of a territory or state, or else a military violation of relevant international treaties, agreements or legally binding assurances.
An important exception to the forgoing are defensive military actions taken under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Such defensive actions are subject to immediate Security Council review, but do not require UN permission to be legal within international law."Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations." (UN Charter, Article 51) The Security Council will determine if the action is legally the "right of individual or collective self-defence", or it may appoint another UN organ to do this.
The definition of crimes against peace was first incorporated into the Nuremberg Principles and later included in the United Nations Charter. This definition would play a part in defining aggression as a war crime.
May it please Your Honors, may the trial begin on this day with it's first witness.
Witness for the prosecution # 1 - Mr. Richard Pearle
"I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."
- Richard Pearle , London, Nov. 2003
But Mr Perle, a key member of the defence policy board, which advises the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that "international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone", and this would have been morally unacceptable.
French intransigence, he added, meant there had been "no practical mechanism consistent with the rules of the UN for dealing with Saddam Hussein".
Mr Perle, who was speaking at an event organised by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, had argued loudly for the toppling of the Iraqi dictator since the end of the 1991 Gulf war.
Witness for the prosecution #2 - Mr.Kofi Annan
In a BBC interview, Annan said the war was "not in conformity with the Security Council, with the U.N. charter." When asked, "It was illegal?," Annan replied: "Yes, if you wish," adding: "I have indicated it is not in conformity with the U.N. Charter; from our point of view and from the Charter point of view, it was illegal."
And the U.N. Charter does lay out specific conditions for hostile action; as Article 39 states, "The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken ... to maintain or restore international peace and security." The charter authorizes the use of force only if sanctioned by the Security Council, or if a country is attacked or threatened with imminent attack (Article 51): "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security."
Witness for the prosecution # 3 - Sir Tony Blair
The situation could not therefore be clearer. There is a duty on Saddam to co-operate fully. At present he is not co-operating fully. Failure to do so is a material breach of Resolution 1441. Should Dr Blix continue to report Iraqi non-cooperation, a second Resolution should be passed confirming such a material breach. President Bush and I agreed we should seek maximum support for such a Resolution, provided, as ever, that seeking such a Resolution is a way of resolving the issue not delaying or avoiding dealing with it at all. I continue to believe the UN is the right way to proceed. There is an integrity in the process set out in 1441 and we should follow it.
- Tony Blair Transcript of a statement given by British Prime Minister Tony Blair following his summit with President Bush in Washington, House of Commons, 2/3/2003
Submitted to the official court record, this published statement from three UNSC member nations from November 2002:
In a joint 11 November 2002 statement, Russia, China and France said, “Resolution 1441 (2002) adopted today by the Security Council excludes any automaticity in the use of force.”
Witness for the prosecution # 4 - Sir Jeremy Greenstock
We heard loud and clear during the negotiations the concerns about "automaticity" and "hidden triggers" -- the concern that on a decision so crucial we should not rush into military action; that on a decision so crucial any Iraqi violations should be discussed by the Council. Let me be equally clear in response... There is no "automaticity" in this resolution. If there is a further Iraqi breach of its disarmament obligations, the matter will return to the Council for discussion as required in paragraph 12. We would expect the Security Council then to meet its responsibilities.
Sir Jeremy Greenstock’s ambassador for the United Kingdom 1441 co-sponsor 8 November 2002 UNSC
Witness for the prosecution # 5 - Mr John Negroponte
“[T]his resolution contains no "hidden triggers" and no "automaticity" with respect to the use of force. If there is a further Iraqi breach, reported to the Council by UNMOVIC, the IAEA or a Member State, the matter will return to the Council for discussions as required in paragraph 12.
John Negroponte, ambassador for the United States , 8 November 2002 UNSC
May the following news article be submitted into the court's official record.
The US and British governments will begin work today on a new United Nations resolution that will set an ultimatum for Iraq to cooperate fully by next month or face war.
The US president, George Bush, confirmed yesterday that the US would prefer a second resolution. "We don't need a second resolution. It's clear this guy [Saddam Hussein] couldn't even care less about the first resolution. He's in total defiance with 1441. But we're working with our friends and allies to see if we can get a second resolution."
A security council official said the resolution was unlikely to be tabled until after Mr Blix has reported on February 28.
The US and Britain have narrowed down half a dozen variations to an agreement that the draft resolution should take the form of an ultimatum to Iraq. They are considering a list of tests, such as destruction of the Samoud missiles and unrestricted interviews with Iraqi scientists. It is expected to be short and use some of the language of resolution 1441, passed unanimously in November.
Failure to comply by a fixed date would see the UN declare the inspections process "no longer meaningful", a UN official said. UK ministers and officials hope that President Saddam may yet back down.
Tony Blair seemed confident at his monthly press conference yesterday that the security council would provide the vital diplomatic cover for war, that the process still had weeks to run, and that sceptical voters would be won over in the end.
May the court also enter this official British government document into the official record :
27. In these circumstances, I remain of the opinion that the safest legal course would be to secure the adoption of a further resolution to authorise the use of force. I have already advised that I do not believe that such a resolution need be explicit in its terms. The key point is that it should establish that the Council has conduced that Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity offered by resolution 1441, as in the draft which has already been tabled.
35. In short, there are a number of ways in which the opponents of military action might seek to bring a legal case, internationally or domestically, against the UK, members of the Government or UK military personnel. Some of these seem fairly remote possibilities, but given the strength of opposition to military action against Iraq, it would not be surprising if some attempts were made to get a case of some sort off the ground. We cannot be certain that they would not succeed.
British Attorney General's Advice to Blair on Legality of Iraq War
March 7, 2003
http://
As well as this one :
Downing Street Memo
SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY
DAVID MANNING From: Matthew Rycroft Date: 23 July 2002 S 195 /02
cc: Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Attorney-General, Sir Richard Wilson, John Scarlett, Francis Richards, CDS, C, Jonathan Powell, Sally Morgan, Alastair Campbell
Copy addressees and you met the Prime Minister on 23 July to discuss Iraq.
This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know its contents.
C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.
The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun "spikes of activity" to put pressure on the regime. No decisions had been taken, but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections.
It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.
The Foreign Secretary would send the Prime Minister the background on the UN inspectors, and discreetly work up the ultimatum to Saddam.
Witness for the prosecution # 6 - Mr Alan Greenspan.
"Whatever their publicized angst over Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction,' American and British authorities were also concerned about violence in the area that harbors a resource indispensable for the functioning of the world economy. I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."
"I thought the issue of weapons of mass destruction as the excuse was utterly beside the point,
-former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan September 17, 2007
Greenspan said that he made his economic argument to White House officials and that one lower-level official, whom he declined to identify, told him, "Well, unfortunately, we can't talk about oil."
It is against such a background that these defendants now ask this Tribunal to say that they are not guilty of planning, executing, or conspiring to commit this long list of crimes and wrongs. They stand before the record of this Trial as bloodstained Gloucester stood by the body of his slain king. He begged of the widow, as they beg of you: “Say I slew them not.” And the Queen replied, “Then say they were not slain. But dead they are...” If you were to say of these men that they are not guilty, it would be as true to say that there has been no war, there are no slain, there has been no crime.
Robert H. Jackson Chief of Counsel for the United States Nuremberg Trials Closing statement July 26, 1946
In Flanders Fields By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army
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.
With November 11th, 2007 almost upon us , let's not forget to spend a "Pittance Of Time" remembering those who lost their lives fighting for the freedom we now have.
Where ever you are on November 11th, at 11 am, I trust you will spend two minutes in quiet reflection.
Click on the link to see a great music video on this very subject.
They fought and some died for their homeland. They fought and some died, now it's our land. Look at his little child; there's no fear in her eyes. Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?
Take two minutes, would you mind? It's a pittance of time, For the boys and the girls who went over. In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died. It's a pittance of time.
God forgive me for wanting to strike him. Give me strength so as not to be like him. My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips, My throat wants to bawl out, my tongue barely resists.
But two minutes I will bide. It's a pittance of time, For the boys and the girls who went over. In peace may they rest. May we never forget why they died. It's a pittance of time.
Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home. They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own. There's a price to be paid if you go, if you stay. Freedom's fought for and won in numerous ways.
Take two minutes, would you mind? It's a pittance of time, For the boys and the girls all over. May we never forget, our young become vets. At the end of the line, It's a pittance of time.
It takes courage to fight in your own war. It takes courage to fight someone else's war. Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell. They bring hope to foreign lands that hate mongers can't kill.
Take two minutes, would you mind? It's a pittance of time, For the boys and the girls who go over. In peacetime our best still don battle dress And lay their lives on the line. It's a pittance of time
In peace may they rest, Lest we forget why they died. Take a pittance of time.
Thank you for our freedom, to every veteran - living or dead.
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