Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen 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 soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt 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."
HT RoP : The blood has dried, the scars have healed. But
deep inside the heart the injury is still felt.
Joachim Schƶnfeldt still
cannot believe that he was beaten up by a teenager. During his visit to
the editorial office, the 77-year-old tells us that on the day in
question he was standing at the bus stop in the StraĆe des Friedens. The
man from Prenzlau wanted to go to his doctor on Georg-Dreke-Ring. But
that did not come to pass on the afternoon of April 5. Shortly after 2
p.m. he was hit in the face, according to the police report ā by a
15-year-old boy who was at the scene with his 34-year-old mother.
The Bustop
According to the long-time production manager of the compound feed
plant, this was preceded by his request to a waiting woman to please let
him with his walker to the door of the bus: āThis woman was deeply
veiled and I didnāt know if she understood me at all. So I asked again
louder for her to step aside because I canāt get on somewhere else.ā
What happened next, the pensioner doesnāt even remember exactly. Seconds
later, he suddenly found himself covered in blood on the footpath.
Joachim Schƶnfeldt suspects that a young man standing nearby overheard
the conversation and subsequently beat him up. āI was suddenly lying on
the ground, bleeding badly from my mouth and nose,ā the man from the
district town remembers.
He also lost a tooth during the attack, which was knocked out, the
victim of the beating adds quietly. Joachim Schƶnfeldt turned to the
newspaper Uckermark Kurier to thank the people who came to his aid in
this difficult situation. According to his recollection, they were young
people of high school age: āThey were quite concerned and got out
handkerchiefs to stop my bleeding. I know that such a thing is not
self-evident. But I was in such a bad way that I couldnāt even thank
them. Iād like to do that now.ā
