06 IX 2001 - 01:51 - defessus11

If anyone is reading this:

I would have gotten up on my soap-box and written a little entry about what Japan did sixty-odd years ago and how this whole feel-good woo-woo fifty-years-of-peace treaty celebration shouldn't be given all the weight because, hey, there is another conference up and running that deals with Japan's denial of what it did during wartime. My grandparents remember just a little bit too much about what happened to their friends and what happened in wartime China and what happened in Taiwan from about 1880 onwards. But I don't have the energy or the time or the sleep to spare - after all, note the time, and I do have school tomorrow - and so I will deal with that later. But it's not even really for me, or for my family. We're not the comfort women who have yet to get an official apology; we weren't forced laborers; the privations of war are difficult in all battlefield countries. I'm not Filipino or Korean or Vietnamese but I do know that it's wrong that there has been no apology, that Japan continues to try to put out textbooks that gloss over the war. History isn't pretty, but it's what we have (yes, I know it's written by the victors, but-), and we should own up to what's in our past so that we can heal ourselves - and it should be recorded, lest the same follies be repeated (hmm. human nature would seem to say that they will be, but-) Japan and other countries (like Poland: ask oboecommie about Jewdabne) seem to be playing a waiting game, hoping that everyone who remembers will die so that they can go on and think of themselves of the good, pure people-victims we all know they were. *sigh* I promised I wouldn't talk, and now look where I am...

Quick mentions before I pop off to bed: borogoves and I both mentioned the same passage from the same shakespeare play. woo-hoo. The Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia is stuck in my head but is gradually being replaced by Bartok's Six Romanian Dances and the fourth movement of Elgar. My excerpts for seating are from Beethoven 2 and Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra.

And the other cellist in my school orchestra today reached over his music stand and lifted the school cello about four feet off the ground by only its ribs. No grip on the neck, no nothing. I couldn't stand it - especially after seeing him proceed to knock his chair over and knock his bow off the stand. And he wonders why the cello has a buzz and the bow rattles. Let me give you a hint, kid: it's because you're an inept musician who hasn't the faintest idea about proper instrument handling.

Gripe, gripe, moan, moan, just like bloodylune says I'm doing, but I can't be put upon to care right now.

Have a good night.

nox, noctis f. night