Who is this person?

A person standing alone but never without others who fights for the rights of others who believes in the protection of freedom . A person who takes everyday as it comes giving little thought tho their own safety. A person who in the eyes of others can be both a hero and a demon but not very often seen as a person.  

I have huge problems with war and peace keeping, in fact I have huge problems with anyone holding a gun. I know that each case has to be looked on it's own merits.

When I was young my first memories of 'war' was the day a pamphlet called 'Protect and Survive' landed on our door mat.

If you would like to see what was inside you can click on this link and go to the Protect and Survive website.

I Lived in the City of London when I was a child and we knew that if the time came we would not live through it. For the first time in my life I faced the fact that my young life could end in a matter of seconds, and the government felt that by sending us this pamphlet was in some way going to stop us fearing what was then called 'The Cold War'.

Then as I got a little older I was faced by the first of many conflicts Britain was to be involved with in my life. The Falklands War happened when I was just 12 years old, already thinking that the end of my life could happen at any time, I was suddenly brought to the point of realization that it may be sooner than I thought. 

For months I would hide every time the news was on television or leave the room whenever my family would talk about the battles that had happened that day, unbeknown to me the Falkland Islands where on the other side of the world. I remember not sleeping for days crying myself to sleep when I had over heard my parents talking about people being killed, I even remember thinking that the war would spread and we would all be killed. So little was explained to us as children that my fears consumed almost my every thought at this time.

Years later we joined hands with other countries to face oppression in other places around the world, these battles continue to this day with the body count rising all the time.

As I have got older I have grown in a lot of way but one thing I will never get out of my head is the cost of war. Now we face conflict in other peoples homelands, where we have gone to 'free the people' or 'protect their rights' but at what costs? Who will be paying the price? How many children will be harmed in more ways than I am?

With conflicts always on the horizon and new threats around the corner how will we look after the children of our fragile Planet? and those we send to protect them, for after all they were once children too.

Bear. X