'Peace is more than the absence of war.'

As the recruit walked in water up to his neck, holding his rifle above his head, he knew the time was around 03:00 hrs, he had been walking for the past hour and a half and he was tired, soaking wet and he honestly knew that the run back would be hard. In the past twenty four hours he had managed to get thirty minutes sleep, it wasn't enough, every sound in the dark became a threat, his eyes were starting to play tricks on him, he just didn't know how he was carrying on, he just couldn't tell.

As he started to run, his load started to feel that much heavier, he found himself thinking that there must be an easier way to make a living. Maybe he could quit right then and there, that he wouldn't have to run the next mile and a half back to the destination, that he wouldn't have to sleep on a stone cold floor.

Thirty minutes later he was sat down resting, and at that moment if he had any feelings at all, he would have been ashamed of himself, ashamed of what he had been thinking, because at the exact moment he was complaining, brave souls were most likely enduring something far worse, for real:



Meanwhile, teachers across the country go on strike because they think they should be paid more.........