It Is Certainly Impossible To Imagine Forgiving

Would We Be The Heroes Or The Cowards Of The Piece? Would We Follow Orders Or Stick To Our Principles, If Those Two Things Ever Conflicted? Would We Be The Brave Ones Who Still Found The Capacity For Love - And For Laughter - Even While We Were Terrified?

We Cannot Choose Where To Start And Stop. Our Stories Are The Tellers Of Us.

Everyone Carries The Weight Of Wwii With Them In Their Recent Family History, And Yet It Is Rarely Spoken About Within Families, Because Veterans And Survivors Don't Tend To Talk.

When I Reached Fort Binjemma, For Example, Where My Grandfather Was Stationed For A While, The Whole Victorian Fort Was Decaying. Barbed Wire Surrounded It, Spray Paint On The Ancient Walls Claimed It As Private Property, And The Moat Where My Grandfather And His Men Had Grown Crops - In Desperation As The Siege's Hunger Bit - Was Completely Overgrown With Bushes And Trees.

To Be Well In Your Mind You Have First To Be Free.