Sergeant Stubby

Those are actual military medals on Stubby's jacket. A hero of WW1, Stubby achieved the rank of Sergeant after the battle of Chemin dem Dames. Check this hero dog out by clicking to the Wiki.

Not as flattering a shot, but c'mon! It's olden tymes. Note that Stubby is a pitbull. The breed has a terrible reputation today, but that's only because of dick head owners. But the power of opinion is hard to overcome. And, I suppose, we have less need for relentless attack dogs.

"A Brave Stray" describes us all really, for our ancestors marched and moved on over and anon again and again till humanity spread to every corner of the world, save Antarctica. But who would want to go there anyways?

Anywho, Stubby! What a dog!

World at War

Think of all the wars in our history - all of them. From the world at war in 1914 to the petty little royal wars of this kingdom or that in 963, this tribe or that in BCE360, this clan or that in BCE26,000. All the wars, all the violence, all the death and destruction - for why? And I ask this from an evolutionary perspective.

Survival of the fittest, I suppose. Via technology - I'd argue technology was created and ever honed because of war and violence, up to and including this day. And what a mighty world we've built with this technology.

With so much loss. Think of all the dead, and not just the troopers, soldiers, warriors, etc, but the women and children, the old folks brutally chopped down. So much death and loss, but so much gained.

We're Gods now, super heroes bestride the World. But terrible, petty, vengeful Gods, prone to violence and random acts of killing.

Is it worth it? Probably yeah, right?

Worker Bees and/or Ants - Choose your metaphor!

This is an actual color photo from World War One, which was not called World War One at the time.

It's safe to say that throughout human history there has been war and violence, and in that war and violence there have been the soldiers, the enforcers, the thugs and toughs and sometimes brave defenders of home and hearth. They don't always choose to fight, but fight they do, instruments of the Great Powers which control us all, and who's bidding we heed.

Worker bees of the soldier class. We are all worker bees, of course, of different classes, and there need be no positive or negative spin taken from the word "class", since an operating society needs many pieces working, and any who contribute to the operating of society are successful worker bees, be they plumber, soldier, or political lobbyist.

Humanity has specialized to an nth degree, and as such there are many types of worker bees. Still, though, and for evermore, only a few true leader bees, whomever they might be (I'll never know).

Redshirt rule number 1: When the away mission calls, so too does your duty to the hive, the collective good of which you are a part. For the Queen!