I need to rent some comedies.

Just finished, the Religion, about the siege of Malta. Goriest book I've ever read. Then, each night, sat down and watched The War, which is the goriest documentary I've ever seen. It was almost too much. I almost skipped the last episode, which I knew would contain the Holocaust and Hiroshima, but I'd already watched 200 hours or so it seemed, so I saw it through.

It will probably sound churlish of me, but I just didn't like The War as much as I thought I would. Burns and Wolfe were on C-Span, and if ever writers were treated like rock stars, it was them.

I'd admired the Civil War greatly, so what happened?

As much as I respect and admire the folk they profiled, I still felt I was getting just snippets of the war. Then huge brush strokes of history from the narrator, of events I already pretty much knew.

I also knew about as much of the Civil War history, so why didn't it work this time?

I think it was because it was missing the eloquence of the historians. I can listen to Shelby Foote for hours....I know they were trying to get away from the talking heads, but its hard to beat the pure presence and gravitas of some of those guys. And the scratchy jazzy background just didn't have the same resonance to me as the fiddle music in the Civil War.

As profound as the witnesses were, as important as the events, The War just didn't have the impact on me that the Civil War did. Except to realize that we've probably never shown the respect to these men and women they deserve -- my generation, the baby boomers, especially must have seemed like spoiled brats. And to be reminded that we also didn't give up the respect the Korean and Vietnam veterans deserved either, until much later. I hope we've learned from that.

I want to make it clear, I thought The War was a hugely important event, and better than anything else on T.V. It just didn't floor me, the way the Civil War did.

Except for the violence, which I believe needs to be shown. War needs to be shown for the senseless horror it is. My generation grew up watching John Wayne heroically charging the sands of Iwo Jima; if this generations sees the mangled, gory mess, maybe we'll think twice before we throw our young men and women into the fray. If it is necessary, at least we should be aware of the cost. Not the neat, tidy John Wayne movies of my youth. Let us be aware from the start of what we're asking.

I was impressed that Burns and Wolfe were willing to show the true horror of war, or at least give a glimpse of it. I felt I had to honor that by watching it all the way through.