Blog number 268 **** 18 January 2009
I read a lot of "war books" written by historians and by actual participants. One of the things I come away with from reading first person experiences of those in war zones is a deep appreciation and gratitude that my life is "different" from the life these people describe.
For instance, this :
"It's a little better when you can lie down, even in the mud. Rocks are better than mud because you can curl yourself around the big rocks, even if you wake up with sore bruises where the little rocks dug into you. When you wake up in the mud your cigarettes are all wet and you have an ache in your joints and a rattle in your chest."
Writings like this - from someone who has obviously experienced a wide variety of sleeping arrangements, give me "peace of mind" when I find myself unable to fall asleep at night for instance - or if I have to wait in line or have a flat or a dead battery or any one of the thousands of little irritations one encounters through life's travels.. I think of how comfortable my bed is, I am not hungry, I am clean, I have no fear of a sudden attack by a murderous foe while asleep.
These realizations give me a great sense of gratitude and thankfulness. "Insomnia! Phooey!" "Dead battery ten miles from a phone. Phooey!" Lighten up, Mister Don.
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3 comments:
So who's the author who wrote that bit about the mud being better to lie down in? Vonnegut came to mind, but I'm not sure. Please help me out (and don't worry a bean about talking to people others aren't permitted to see).
This makes you appreciate life. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be in a plane flying deep into Germany with other planes up there with you trying to SHOOT YOU DOWN! The life expectancy of a WWII bomber crew was very short. In fact, if you made a certain amount of missions they sent you home. In this day we take a LOT for granted and how life is so comfortable. But too bad no one is learning from the past because we are about to repeat 1929.
hg,
It was from a book about WW II written by C.L. Sulzberger, but I couldn't find the author of that particular piece.
It wasn't the author of the book, I know that. He writes some of the first hand accounts, but most of it is what others have volunteered about their experiences. Little vignettes by unknowns. This one was by one of those little people - the down and dirty infantryman
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