The form of gas masks follow their function. One should not see monsters in them, nor monsters nor demons behind them. Yet it's hard not to. The enlarged eyes, the absence, or perhaps the perversion of, the familiar facial features into something distorted from the original. The loss of humanity, perhaps.

The use of poisoned gas in World War I was madness. The act of monsters. Of course, they weren't the ones wearing these masks. They wore shiny, bright uniforms, unsullied by the mud of the trenches.

These monsters were still men, I should probably add. And worse, were probably convinced that that they were doing the right thing.

What bothers me, what truly has me more than a bit perturbed is that while there is no longer the obscenity of chlorine gas involved, there DOES seem to be an upswing of seeing people as every bit expendable as those who came up with the idea of using gas did. The methodology is different, but at its core the sentiment is the same. I saw their faces when I looked at this display.

A bit of a downer for the end of the year? True. But it's decently indicative of the behaviour of some governments and some businesses over the last 12 months.

And of course, I shall return to a sense of optimism for the dawn of the new year.

For now, best wishes to any of my visitors for 2015.