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SDN's avatar

General Patton felt that too. One of the reasons I give more credit to his claims of past lives is that he didn't JUST remember being nobility.

So as through a glass, and darkly

The age long strife I see

Where I fought in many guises,

Many names, but always me.

And I see not in my blindness

What the objects were I wrought,

But as God rules o’er our bickerings

It was through His will I fought.

So forever in the future,

Shall I battle as of yore,

Dying to be born a fighter,

But to die again, once more.

https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/Poetry-Reader-2023/Through-a-Glass-Darkly/

Cedar Sanderson's avatar

I didn't know this about Patton, but that's a beautiful sentiment.

Cookie momster's avatar

It’s referenced in the first part of the Patton movie.

Cedar Sanderson's avatar

It’s been at least twenty years since I watched that. Time for a rewatch!

Mel Dunay's avatar

Someone could get a pretty good novel out of the idea of Patton being the latest incarnation of some angel of righteous warfare who got permission to become human to fight evil from within the physical world, until the world's end.

SDN's avatar

Or even a series of novels.

Frank Nero's avatar

Maybe even a series that has him bulding the skills needed to be the General Patton of France ... and into a future developed by the writer. This plot line could be really satisfying to anyone who ever felt that Patton deserved more than a death by traffic accident.

Jim in Alaska's avatar

Yep what your husband says but my druthers would be bard.

Lyre, a key to cottages and castles. A pass defying boarders. A seat at many tables. In the thick of happenings. I remember reading Celts, the bards, in the ranks, not on the sidelines, in the battles loudly iambic pentametering heroes and past glories uplifting, inspiring the leaders and the grunts until the clang and bang of battle became so grand it drowned out their voices...

Then the bagpipes took over.

Charles Fout's avatar

"They also serve, who only stand and wait."