Such Stupidity!

Stopped off in Belém, on the way home from the conference. Lovely sunny day, with a coolish breeze, and good to relax just us two...

Walked round the monument to the soldiers who died in the African wars from 1961-1974 - some 10,000 names engraved in the marble walls - these wars were the main thing that lost Salazar, the dictator, support, and eventually led to the Carnation Revolution in 1974. As a passerby was heard to comment with great feeling, "Oh estupidez! Tanta estupidez!"

To think that so many young men were killed in a pointless effort to hang on to African colonies... Very moving to stand in the inner chapel where the figure of the risen Christ hangs behind a coffin, and the names of all those young men are read out continuously, and imagine the loss to so many families...

(This stonemason was re-engraving the names, while a woman was painting what he carved.)