Soldiers of the light (revised)

Trees not Guns
By Melissa Simm

Dear Soldiers of the light

As I stand amongst the poppies, I think of what I would write to you. I wish I could tell you that times are different. You like thousands of others, went out to war believing you would pave the way for a better world and yet here we are now, 2018. We still have much to learn.

Fear and hatred, they haven’t gone. But then war could never kill that, war never will, no matter how many guns are shot or bombs that fall.

I wonder what you felt whilst out on the battlefields. What went through your mind and heart when you killed your first man? And at what number did you get up to before you stopped counting? Did you ever see the pain and the suffering in your opposition’s eyes? Were you even aware they had souls too? Or did fear or hatred get in the way like it still does for many of us, even now.

Were you afraid? Were you brave? Did you cry? Were you in love? Because: Only love can truly win a war. I expect you know that now.

And when you went down, did it hurt? Was it painless, was it sudden or did you have to endure a long lingering death, alone and afraid? Because I would be, not of death itself, but of the realisation of true horror we can inflict on another fellow being.

You ought to know, that as you went down, you also went down in history. Your names are inscribed on a plaque in St Nicholas Church, a reminder how war can tear countries and lives apart. A reminder to us all of your sacrifice.

And as we commemorate the 100th year of the ending of the Great War, 14 trees have been planted in the village in your memory. A lasting tribute to your bravery and courage.

A small token gesture to show that we can all choose to make our world a better place. Perhaps we can all be soldiers of light and because hope can make us believe that love and peace can one day prevail.

Thank you and God Bless.