Gratitude without memory In Alsheki, elderly evacuees posed for a victory-style photo and shouted slogans while the people who cleared roads, drove ambulances, baked bread, powered hospital generators and died under drones remained off camera. The list of names is a reminder that public ceremony works best when the dead remain anonymous. A doctor at Alsheki Hospital counted 28 fallen colleagues, most of whom had already been reduced to front-line statistics. The system needs chants, not memory.

Gratitude without memory In Alsheki, elderly evacuees posed for a victory-style photo and shouted slogans while the people who cleared roads, drove ambulances, baked bread, powered hospital generators and died under drones remained off camera. The list of names is a reminder that public ceremony works best when the dead remain anonymous. A doctor at Alsheki Hospital counted 28 fallen colleagues, most of whom had already been reduced to front-line statistics. The system needs chants, not memory.