Turns out the POWs of the first Boer war were sent to Bermuda. I was out on a boat yesterday wandering in between the islands and we stopped at the Boer Cemetary. A few of them were hit by yellow fever while they were here.
Bizzare, a hundred years on and there were three South Africans climbing the hill to the cemetary in board shorts.
What a world we live in. Really glad I never had to fight in a war... or at least that I haven't had to yet. The idea of being conscipted to fight in a war that I don't necessarily even believe in the ideals of or support the government fills me with dread.
I can very much see myself fighting to defend the ones I love from imminent attack, but the very thought of it makes me feel sick to my stomach that it would have to come to that.
But it does put things in perspective. I was reading a book where a lighty was complaining to his grandmother about how unfair things had been. Not rich enough. Lost a girlfriend. Failed an exam. Lost a job. Didn't get a job he wanted. Something along those lines.
The grans response? `Oh that awful, when your grandfather was your age, he was fighting the Germans'.
It is easy to moan... and the world is a mess. But it is a better place than in `the good old days'.
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