Thoughts on Mowing
Created | Updated Apr 12, 2002
I like mowing. There is something very satisfying in turning a hairy lawn into a green oasis - albeit a very temporary taming of nature. As I mow, my mind wanders from one thought to another, only disturbed in the late spring sunshine by the energetic cries of the birds and the bleating of sheep and lambs. Important questions like why is it that lambs are so adorable and sheep so stupid? But then there is a different sound - an aircraft engine. Man is following his natural bent rather than nature. A military aircraft is doing whatever military aircraft do in our part of the world, practising their low-level runs perhaps or checking their responses to hostile radar. And as I mow, I wonder about the pilot. Is he preparing for a sortie over Serbia? Probably. How many other NATO pilots have zoomed down our valley? Quite a few, I expect. I wonder how he is feeling about it. As a young man and a professional he will be concentrating on improving his skills with his personal worries tucked away in a very small corner his mind. Or perhaps he is a she. Surely by now there must be some front line pilots who are women. Whatever, the pilot's family will be worried - they are the ones who deserve our concern. Listening for his engine as he prepares to make another run I wonder how it would feel if I had just tucked my armoured vehicle away from his view and was hoping he wouldn't see me as a target. Or how would it feel if we were hiding in some woods half way up a mountain willing him to smash that military convoy in the valley below. Or how would it be if I were cowering in an air raid shelter hoping that there would be no collateral damage in our area that night. And that takes me right back to those boyhood nights I spent under the stairs in the cellar waiting for the all clear and the chance to find a bit of hot shrapnel to add to my collection. I don't recall feeling frightened although it must have been a worrying time for my parents. Of course, in those days, the aircrews seemed to drop their bombs indiscriminately - not like today's ethical targeting and laser accuracy. Time to empty the grass box and ponder on the feasibility of ethical warfare. Can a war, however small, however localised, ever be called just? On the other hand, how long can you continue witnessing a people being turned out of their homeland with extreme brutality and do nothing about it. Mind you, when the neighbours start fighting it's nearly always easier to do nothing. Never get involved in a domestic is what they say. Churchill said Jaw-Jaw is better than War-War - but war was his finest hour so what does that tell us? But if talking doesn't solve the problem and the innocent continue to suffer then difficult decisions have to be taken - or carry on talking and watch the agony continue. But what is the objective and what are the intentions? Good intentions have had a bad press over the years but when the best course of action is the measured use of force then, perhaps, good intentions are all you have to rely on. Fortunately, I don't have to take such decisions - all I have to do is to finish the mowing. And I like mowing although it does give me time to think.
