own possibilities;
we are in the flower of our age: force is in our arms and in our
souls; and as no one willingly dies, no one is brave (_tapfer_) in
the usual sense of the word: or at least such are very rare. It is
just because bravery is so rare in life, it is just for that that
we expend so much religion, poetry, and thought (and this begins
already at school), in celebrating as the highest fate death for
one's fatherland, until it attains its climax in the false heroism
which makes such a sensation about us in newspapers and speeches
and which is so cheap--and also in the true heroism of a small
number who do risk themselves and lead on the others.... We do our
duty, we do what we _ought_; but it is a passive virtue.... When I
read in the papers the scribblings of those who have a bad
conscience because they are safely in the rear--when I read this
talk which makes every soldier into a hero, I feel hurt. Heroism
is a rare growth, and you cannot build on it a citizen army. To
keep such an army together the men must respect their superiors,
and even fear them more than the enemy. And the superiors must be
conscientious, do their duty well, know their business thoroughly,
decide rapidly, and have control of their nerves. When we read the
praises which those behind the line write of us, we blush. Thank
God, old-fashioned, robust shame is not dead in us.... Ah! my dear
friends, those who are here don't speak so complacently of death,
of disease, of sacrifice, and of victory as do those who behind the
line ring the bells, make speeches, and write newspapers. The men
here accustom themselves as best they may to the bitter necessity
of suffering and of death if fate wills; but they know and see that
many noble sacrifices, innumerable, innumerable sacrifices have
already been made, and that already for a long while we shall have
had more than enough of destruction on our side as well as the
other. It is precisely when one has to look suffering in the face
as I have that a tie begins to be formed that unites one to those
over there, on the other side (and one that unites you too with
them, my friends! Yes, surely you feel it too, don't you?) If I
come back from here (which I scarcely hope for any more) my dearest
duty will be to soak myself in the study