If the thing they were fighting for was important enough to die for then it was also important enough for them to be thinking about it in the last minutes of their lives. That stood to reason. Life is awfully important so if you've given it away you'd ought to think with all your mind in the last moments of your life about the thing you traded it for. So did all those kids die thinking of democracy and freedom and liberty and honor and the safety of the home and the stars and stripes forever? You're goddamn right they didn't. They died crying in their minds like little babies. They forgot the thing they were fighting for the things they were dying for. They thought about things a man can understand. They died yearning for the face of a friend. They died whimpering for the voice of a mother a father a wife a child They died with their hearts sick for one more look at the place where they were born please god just one more look. They died moaning and sighing for life. They knew what was important They knew that life was everything and they died with screams and sobs. They died with only one thought in their minds and that was I want to live I want to live I want to live. He ought to know. He was the nearest thing to a dead man on earth.Dalton Trumbo
About This Quote
The story on this quote is a bit rowdy as it was written as a poem after the 1912 Titanic disaster. It apparently was written by a survivor named Jack Thayer. In the poem he speaks of those who died in the disaster and those who were rescued from the ship. What makes this quote so powerful is that it says things that we all know but don't really think about. The ones who died and lived lived and thought and wanted to live and they didn't look at life as a battle to be won, they looked at their life as something to be cherished and lived to the fullest.
Source: Johnny Got His Gun
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