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."
Go out and vote, don't let it be just another day By Alena Nadia
Friday, November 18, 2022
Malaysiakini : COMMENT | Pulling out all the stops
this election season, it seems a largely disgruntled rakyat is working
hard to edge a newer, younger group of voters closer to the ballot boxes
tomorrow.
While those in my inner circle aged 20 to 24 are more
likely to know where they lean politically, many still remain clueless -
which I donāt begrudge them for - on their role as voters and the nitty
gritty of our political system.
This is not a āgenerational
issueā either. In this election, some older folks I met on the ground
sound as though they are trapped in the early months of 2020, thinking,
for example, that Dr Mahathir Mohamad is still the head of Bersatu.
Where they have been all this while beats me.
But there are still
those, in this increasingly digital post-Covid world, who are making
great use of the internet as a means of disseminating information to the
masses.
Take a look at the political education videos by infamous graphic
designer and political activist Fahmi Reza - who is rarely without his
beret and shades. He has taken to social media, armed with just a whiteboard, a marker, and some cutouts.
Going
on a tour of universities across the country, students have flocked to
his impromptu lessons - dubbed āKelas Demokrasiā where it is okay to
start from square one, finding out the differences between a state
assemblyperson and an MP, and so on.
Nevertheless,
universities themselves have not been as keen, with the vast majority
calling on auxiliary police to forcefully put an end to the
controversial graphic designerās educational visits.
Fahmi, who has had brushes with the authorities on multiple occasions, is unfazed by the whole fracas, most recently taking his class online with university students from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
