Beautiful Sky Over the Moment of (Near) Death: War and Peace, End of Part I

 

The Emperor Napoleon and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky

In the final scenes of Volume 1 of War and Peace Prince Andrei Bolkonsky lies on his back bleeding from a head wound and looking at the beautiful sky.  Napoleon rides through the battlefield, surveying the carnage of his defeat of Russia and Austria at Austerlitz.

Before the battle Prince Andrei admired Napoleon. But lying on his back with the shaft of the unit flag in his hand he feels himself dying and that this world has no longer has meaning for him. He sees Napoleon and does not care.  

Napoleon thought Andrei was dead, but seeing him move, he orders Andrei to be taken to an aid station. The agony of  being lifted onto stretcher convinced Andrei he was, in fact, alive.

Reading this passage, I remembered lying on my back on the side of Route 230 northwest of  Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.  In the middle of an S-turn my Suzuki 550 motorcycle shook and flipped into the air. I was launched at 75mph, bounced and skidded and rolled to the ditch on the opposite side of the road. The visor of my full-face helmet had been scraped away. I looked straight up at a lovely, blue mid-June sky with scattered, puffy clouds.

I felt no pain.  At first the peace and beauty of the sky, the silence around me, led me think I was dead. Some moments later, I knew I was alive when a man who was painting his house ran up and covered me with a drop cloth. He said, "Don't move" and told me help would be there soon.  I looked down and saw the ligaments inside my knees, the skin was burned away on the left side of both knees because of the way I landed. Seeing inside my knees woke the pain.  My moment of eternity was over.   

In his book The Nearest Thing to Life James Wood surveys dozens of novels to show how real life is brought to life in fiction. He uses scenes with Prince Andrei illustrate the beauty of the reality brought to life in novels. 

The delight of re-reading Tolstoy after 25 years is in the scenes of pain and pathos and beauty he paints so well.

Ukraine Community Day at Penn

 

Prometheus Choir

Yesterday, I went Ukrainian Community Day at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia.

By the time I arrived, I could only watch the performance on a video screen in the lobby with others who arrived late.  Which made me very happy to see that the Ukraine event had filled the auditorium which has seating for more than 900.

On the wall of the lobby hung fourteen drawings under the title Etching Room 1: Safety Instructions. 

Safety Instructions is the first-ever U.S. exhibition for Kyiv-based artists Anna Khodkova and Kristina Yarosh, founders of the print studio Etchingroom1. Infused with subtle humor and sharp sarcasm, Safety Instructions is an artistic exploration into the fragility and transience of safety within the modern world. Employing diverse techniques, including etching, silkscreen and drawing, the 14 graphic works on display make their public debut in this very special exhibition.

On view through June, Safety Instructions is part of Ukraine: The Edge of Freedom, exploring the country’s stunning artistry and rich cultural history while uplifting artists calling attention to the challenges the nation has been facing.

Honor Guard: Real Military Life

 

I recently had a Red Rose Veterans Honor Guard service on a cold afternoon in Lancaster. We all arrived before our time to report. The time we gather is a half hour before the graveside ceremony begins.  

We practice the ceremony for a few minutes. We concentrate on the very precise way we fold the flag.  Then in a very military way, we wait.  This particular ceremony happened right on time. I have been to others that were delayed from a few minutes to almost an hour.  

All of us are required to leave our phones in the car, so we actually talk to each other. And we don't take selfies.  I have my phone shut off in my jacket pocket because I ride a bicycle to the ceremonies. I am the only one who has ever ridden to the ceremonies, so there are no bike rules.  

At the most recent ceremony I attended, I met another Tanker.  He is younger than I am so we trained on and served in different tanks.  But we still spent years in turrets and had a lot of fun talking about "the best job we ever had."

After I left the active duty Army at the end of1979, I grew a beard and was a civilian for almost two years.  Then I joined a reserve tank unit for three years. I was not ready to re-enlist in the active-duty Army, but 12 weekends and two weeks in the summer sounded just right, especially because I could fire tank guns at least twice a year.  

Now that I am well past any sort of military service, participating in a ceremony to honor fellow veterans a few times a month gives me a lot of joy, and just enough feeling of being back in the military. 

March for Ukraine on Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia

 

More than a thousand people gathered on the famous steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art today to support Ukraine in its war against the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote about the event today. A very good article. 

The marchers lined up with three long flags forming a procession that stretched several hundred meters along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway between the art museum and the Franklin Institute.

More than Two Thousand Mark the 2nd Anniversary of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine at the Lincoln Memorial

 

Today more than two thousand people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial on the Capital Mall in Washington DC to mark the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  

The event celebrated the courage and tenacity of the people ofUkraine in their struggle against Russian invasion and atrocities.  

It was clear from the signs, that while the majority of Americans, more than 70%, support Ukraine in its defense of its own nation, Trump and the cowards who worship him want to abandon Ukraine and all other American allies.  

Glory to Ukraine!!!

President's Day Standing with Ukraine at the Pennsylvania State Capital

Today I went to the Human Chain of Solidarity with Ukraine on the steps of the Pennsylvania State Capital in Harrisburg.

We stood from 5-6 p.m. facing the setting sun in the west.  The Capital dome was lit in rose and amber by the setting sun as the assembled group sang the Ukraine National Anthem.  

Many of those attending are Ukrainian, some refugees, some American citizens working help Ukraine from here.  

On Saturday and Sunday this week, many of us will be in both Washington D.C. and Philadelphia at events marking the second anniversary of  the Russian invasion.  

 

I am re-reading "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy. I am 300 pages into the 1996-page Pevear and Volokhonsky translation.

Tolstoy was a lieutenant in the Russian Army during the Crimean War (1852) and writes about war with the horror and humor of a combat veteran.

In the first war section of the book, the Russian army meets the French in Austria just after the Austrian army is smashed by Napoleon. The Russian general Kutuzov has beats Napoleon in the first battle, but is forced to retreat. One of the cavalry squadrons attacking the French includes the young cadet Nikolai Rostov.

Rostov draws his sword and rides to the attack with his squadron in his first combat action. In moments his horse is shot from under him and falls on him. Rostov's arm is bruised and possibly broken in the fall. His arm is numb. He struggles to his feet holding his limp arm. He sees French soldiers running toward him. He realizes they are going to capture of kill him. His thoughts are a swirl. He thinks, 'Everyone loves me. My mother, my sisters. My friends. How could they want to kill me. I have a happy life.'

He snaps out of the reverie and runs, escaping in trees and shrubs at the edge of the battlefield.

In that swirl of confused thought, Tolstoy captures the crazy extremes of combat. One moment the young soldier is riding to glory, the next he thinks of his mother on the point of death.

I cannot judge the veracity of the scenes in Moscow parties and dinners, but they come alive for me in the backstabbing intrigue of the powerful.

Tolstoy is amazing.