Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
At
the base of the verdant mountains of Sentani, where dense, tropical
jungle overlooks a sprawling teal lake, worshippers stream into church,
men in suits and ties and sandals or batik shirts, women with colourful
woven bags strung from their foreheads and slung over their backs.
Grey
clouds hang low over the house of worship, a wood and tin shed with
concrete floors and large open windows that let in the thick humid air. Almost two weeks after a series of violent protests hit Indonesia ’s easternmost territory, touching off the worst unrest in more than a decade , the pews in the majority Christian province are full and the parishioners are angry. The
ring of evangelical hymns gives way to the rousing words of Rev Benny
Giay, one of Papua’s staunchest supporters of self-determination. His
fury is palpable.
“They
called us animals!” he rails from the pulpit as women in the pews
before him click their tongues in disgust. “Now there are anti-racist
protests all over. It is like an earthquake!” Ignited
by malicious racial slurs two weeks ago, the protests in West Papua
have spread and intensified, with thousands taking to the streets in a
series of rolling and in some cases violent demonstrations.
