Saturday, December 02, 2006
Watching Patton last night...
...didn't quite know what to make of this exchange, but it seemed quite relevant to whatever I've been thinking over of late.
PATTON: Rommel's out there somewhere, waiting for me.
JENSON: Yes, sir.
PATTON: You know, if I had my way, I'd send that genius son of a bitch an engraved invitation in iambic pentameter: A challenge in two stanzas to meet me alone in the desert.
JENSON: I'll deliver it.
PATTON: Rommel in his tank and me in mine. We'd stop about ten paces. We'd get out, we'd shake hands, then we'd button up and do battle, just the two of us. That battle would decide the outcome of the war.
JENSON: It's too bad jousting's gone out of style. It's like your poetry, general. It isn't part of the 20th century.
PATTON: You're right, Dick. The world grew up. Hell of a shame. Dick, I want a 24-hour guard put around this area. lf we don't, the Arabs will dig them up for their clothes.
JENSON: Yes, sir.
PATTON: Our graves aren't gonna disappear like everybody else's who fought here. The Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians. God, how I hate the 20th century.
PATTON: Rommel's out there somewhere, waiting for me.
JENSON: Yes, sir.
PATTON: You know, if I had my way, I'd send that genius son of a bitch an engraved invitation in iambic pentameter: A challenge in two stanzas to meet me alone in the desert.
JENSON: I'll deliver it.
PATTON: Rommel in his tank and me in mine. We'd stop about ten paces. We'd get out, we'd shake hands, then we'd button up and do battle, just the two of us. That battle would decide the outcome of the war.
JENSON: It's too bad jousting's gone out of style. It's like your poetry, general. It isn't part of the 20th century.
PATTON: You're right, Dick. The world grew up. Hell of a shame. Dick, I want a 24-hour guard put around this area. lf we don't, the Arabs will dig them up for their clothes.
JENSON: Yes, sir.
PATTON: Our graves aren't gonna disappear like everybody else's who fought here. The Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians. God, how I hate the 20th century.
# posted by Gene Justice @ 12:09 PM 
