The above title is the last line of an Italian folk song called Bella Ciao. It is a song that was sung by a group of anti-fascist rebels during WWII, who fought and died trying to free Italy of the tyranny of Benito Mussolini. I can’t listen to it without crying. I cannot help, when I listen to that song, feeling a profound sense of both triumph and tragedy for those brave individuals who died trying to make their country a better place for themselves and their families.

I would just like to take a moment to pay my respects to all those, past and present, of all races, creeds, and nationalities, who have died for freedom, not on foreign soil, but on their own. May you find a seat in Odin’s high hall, or a place of respect within the halls of whatever god, or gods, you may have followed.

Wassail, and blessed be.