Sunday, November 27, 2005
War Letters
"We used the bayonet and the kukri, and the bullets flew about more thickly than drops of rain...in some places men had lost their eyes, in others men without legs, but what could one do, as is in one's fate so it will happen.
Such is the scene and one was powerless. Now I have not any sure confidence that I will see you people again, there is nothing but hopelessness."
A wounded Indian rifleman in a hosptial during WWI, April 1915
"Ask God to give you what you want. Help him to justify your wants by the way that you live, and then having given him your prayer, have the faith and courage to rely on his power to do the right thing that is right in his eyes."
Joseph Portnoy, a Jew, writes in a letter to his wife during WWII
"I've never forgotten your face....How much have you suffered and are still suffering for years. Please have mercy on me....Had it been in your hands you would have taken me out of hell."
Last message of an Iraqi soldier to his mother, in a letter found on his dead body
It's strange thought -- my mortality -- when countless have passed before and in front of my eyes. Yet, I go on pretending it will never happen to me.
Maybe not with the sudden explosion of dynamite, but like the calm breaking of the night by the rising sun, we shall meet each other in my sleep. Am I ready for what lies beyond or are my belongings just a collection of sand castles waiting to collapse when it really matters?
Such is the scene and one was powerless. Now I have not any sure confidence that I will see you people again, there is nothing but hopelessness."
A wounded Indian rifleman in a hosptial during WWI, April 1915
"Ask God to give you what you want. Help him to justify your wants by the way that you live, and then having given him your prayer, have the faith and courage to rely on his power to do the right thing that is right in his eyes."
Joseph Portnoy, a Jew, writes in a letter to his wife during WWII
"I've never forgotten your face....How much have you suffered and are still suffering for years. Please have mercy on me....Had it been in your hands you would have taken me out of hell."
Last message of an Iraqi soldier to his mother, in a letter found on his dead body
It's strange thought -- my mortality -- when countless have passed before and in front of my eyes. Yet, I go on pretending it will never happen to me.
Maybe not with the sudden explosion of dynamite, but like the calm breaking of the night by the rising sun, we shall meet each other in my sleep. Am I ready for what lies beyond or are my belongings just a collection of sand castles waiting to collapse when it really matters?
Faraz Ahmed 12:15 a.m.