Today, I had an absolutely beautiful hike around Gaff Point …
A visit to this location is always driven by the schedule of
the tide. To start the actual hike, there is a 3Km wander along the stunning
Hirtles Beach, which at high tide requires some navigation over mounds of sea
polished stones and pebbles. My preference is to always wait until the tide starts
its retreat, this allows perfect time for the complete hike, and a wander on the fully
sand covered beach in both directions. As usual with many of my daily wanders
and occasional long hikes, my thoughts can go off in various directions, today
they were driven by a particular track on a music album I was listening too this
morning while driving to Hirtles, I think I must have played the particular track about
three times.
Here we are now advancing into the second half of the year
2026, and Putin’s “special military operation” against the innocent people of
Ukraine continues with increasing aggression. It is disturbing to learn that
recently civilian casualties reached their highest monthly levels since early
2022, all driven by an intense escalation in Russian long-range ballistic missile
attacks, and drone strikes within densely populated urban centres. At least 293
civilians were killed and 1990 injured in June
alone, marking a continuing upward trend that worsened further through major
multi-wave assaults in July. Many of those civilian casualties were complete
families, including many children, who are now tragically denied their
birthright of many decades of sunrises.
Within the thoughts of the aggressor, who happens to be just
one man, what does he think the deaths of so many children will achieve …?
Back in 1987, musician, songwriter, and actor Sting wrote
the anti-war ballad “Fragile”, about the futility of violence, the lasting
mental scars of bloodshed, and how easily human life can be destroyed. This was
the song that energized by thoughts this morning ….
Fragile
If blood will flow
when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour
of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will
wash the stains away
But something in our
minds will always stay
Perhaps this final
act was meant
To clinch a
lifetime's argument
That nothing comes
from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born
beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how
fragile we are
On and on the rain
will fall
Like tears from a
star like tears from a star
On and on the rain
will say
How fragile we are
how fragile we are
How fragile we are
how fragile we are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atqbcWO-TNA&list=RDatqbcWO-TNA&start_radio=1
Originally written as a tribute to an American civil
engineer Ben Linder, killed in 1987 by Contras while working on a peaceful
hydroelectric project in Nicaragua. The song’s relevance and resonance has
remained with the passage of time, allowing it to become a source of thought
and reflection to later global tragedies and conflicts since 1987. Sadly today
it still holds enormous weight against the backdrop of the many wars that continue
to scar our world, and destroy life. A line from the song argues "nothing
comes from violence and nothing ever could”, emphasizing that political and
military conflicts solve nothing.
The core themes of the song are …
Human Vulnerability ~ the refrain "Lest we forget how
fragile we are", serves as a reminder that human flesh and life are easily
shattered by steel and hatred, which leads to ~
Permanent Scars ~ while rain washes away physical blood and
stains from the earth, the emotional and mental impact of violence remains
permanently in human memory.
The saddest fact of war, is those who decide and start
conflicts rarely fight them, while the heaviest burden falls on innocent
civilians, and young soldiers who have no personal malice toward one another. I
find it incredible that in 2026 we are still doing it, and just as easily has we have
done so many times in the past ~ how tragic, how wasteful, how stupid ...
With all that now said, here are the pics from today’s wonderful
hike …
