‘I will not weep for the dead. I will hold them in my heart, and I will live my life to the full in honour of them.‘
– Odysseus, to Ganny, Shield of Thunder
‘I will not weep for the dead. I will hold them in my heart, and I will live my life to the full in honour of them.‘
– Odysseus, to Ganny, Shield of Thunder
This reminded me of the beautiful war memorials at Haileybury School. (I went there for quite a few years on retreat at Easter). Many well-loved pupils and teachers there went off to war and didn’t come back. Around the dome of the memorial dining room, built to honour the School’s dead, was something like this, which I have discovered came from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s progress:
“My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who will now be my rewarder. So he passed over, and the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.”
I think weeping for the dead is also OK, and probably inevitable.