It was October 2001 and it was dark. I don’t know why I was outside. I was in the backyard. Maybe I had seen the lights from inside and that drew me out because it was the lights I was looking at. I had never seen anything like it and I probably won’t again. Up in the sky, light after light after light followed each other like a procession. There were too many to count. It was soundless but there they were flying overhead, marching in the air south eastward. Their blinking beacon lights were beautiful to behold but a dis-ease had settled in my stomach, the same feeling that had settled in many of us. It was awe. That’s all we got was the awe, not the shock. Not from this anyway. We had our own shock. A game changer. Now the dogs of war were on the move and nothing would ever be the same again.
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I found this prompt really difficult because I was thinking about people as opposed to a thing. I don’t relate ‘fear’ with ‘respect’ when it comes to people. I think respect is borne out of admiration for who or what someone is or does and fear doesn’t come in to that for me. Anyone I fear I don’t feel respect for. I can relate fear and respect to something like – military or a dog or a horse or fire. Interesting prompt – has really made me think about how those two words can relate to each other.
For the IndieInk Writing Challenge this week, Niqui challenged me with “The relationship between respect and fear” and I challenged GUS with “the waning sun”.
Comments
8 responses to “Dogs of War”
So few words and yet they left such a mark. Excellent job!
I like the image of the planes marching across the sky – It’s a great visual. This couldn’t have been easy to write. Nicely done.
It’s an interesting relationship, and one I think we’d all prefer to shy away from-not exactly comfortable. I like where you went with this.
Hi Liz – you have come up with an interesting concept from the prompt. It made me think of God fearing folk, which I think is an even more tenuous link.
I live near an Air Force Base. Occasionally when there are exercises going on, jets will fly in pairs over my house. There really is a feeling of fear and respect when you see just how powerful these fighters are.
That is a frightening experience. My mother-in-law used to live up in the country and there were fighter jets on an exercise and they flew so low over her house without warning – we didn’t hear them flying around beforehand like you can sometimes. My 2 1/2 year old daughter was standing at the kitchen sink and my instinct was to grab her and duck – which I did (and felt foolish afterward). That power definitely fills me with fear and respect. They are quite amazing machines – and the people who fly them as well – the skill and awareness you must have to have to do that.
[…] – By Liz Culver […]
I really enjoyed this simple image of someone staring up into the sky and seeing lights they know are not friendly, know that bad things are coming. It’s got so many possibilities