Johnsatyricon

Dear friends,

Yesterday I saw the movie 'The last days of Patton', about the famous American General George S. Patton (1885-1945) in World War II. It 's about the last months of his life before he was killed in a car accident in december 1945.

There are some very nice statements in it. Although a brilliant strategist, Patton was notorious for his arrogant big mouth, which put him always in serious troubles with Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower, Supreme Alied Commander. The word he most often used was 'suns-of-bitches'.

His worst offence was the slapping in the face of two wounded American soldiers who suffered from shell-shock. He accused them for being cowards. This incident, in Sicily 1943, provoked furious reactions of both the American press and his military superiors Eisenhower and Bradley.

The American press compared Patton with Hitler, and they portayed him in a cartoon with a swastica underneath of his boot, while kicking the two soldiers in the butt.

As a result, Patton was relieved from his command, only to play a military role again after the landings in Normandy in juli-august 1944. Then he broke through the German defensive lines with the Sherman-tanks of his 3rd Army, dashing to liberate Paris. He is also best known for the relieving of the encircled American forces in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes (december 1944).

Anyway, the movie I saw yesterday is not about his military achievements, but about the very complex human character that Patton was. Hu was brilliant, arrogant and totally undiplomatic, but also wrote beautiful love poems for his eternally beloved wife Bea.

He had a fenomenal knowledge about human history. He foresaw the clashing between the Americans and the Soviet Russians. In a quote of which I don 't remember the exact words he says:

"The war with Germany is over, they say.

They think we killed the last dictator in history.

They 're wrong.

Every generation gives birth to a new dictator."

We all know now these were prophetic words. Think of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Saddam Hoessein, Bush (?).

While discussing the anti-fraternising policy of Eisenhower that forbade American soldiers to flirt with German girls and women, he said:

"You can 't control sex.

All that moralistic garbage!

When morals go down, morale goes up."

(morals=moraal of ethiek en 'morale' is moreel of spirit, een mooi voorbeeld van spelen met de Engelse taal).

In this movie there are also beautiful statements and words of other characters:

Patton and General Harper, his Chief-of-Staff, are driving in a car. They notice that Willy, Patton 's beloved dog, is scratching itself. Then Harper says:

"They say a resonable number of flees is good for a dog.

Keeps him from brooding over being a dog."

I interpret this as follows: people need all these little problems and frustrations to complain about. These they need, in order not to think about the human existential situation, such as the eternal human lack, the passing away of things and people, and the inevitable death.

To end my e-mail, a beautiful fragment coming from a totally different language register, which is called poetry:

Bea, Patton 's wife, who 's always waking along the sickbed of her completely paralyzed husband, looks through the window and says to a family friend, when reflecting about the inevitable coming death of het husband:

There 's something in the air

something mysterious

like enchantment

the miracle of birth

don 't you feel it?

I wish to God

transitions weren 't so painful

parting

We are alle faded to part

why should it seem so sad

melting into memory?

What else can I do more after this poetry than being silent?

best regards,

Johnsatyricon