The colour of the blood oozing from the bullet wounds of thousands of young soldiers, most of them in their late teens and early twenties, must have been similar to the colour of this rosebud I photographed at the park this morning.
I salute those boys and girls for their bravery in facing definite uncertainties as they sailed off to fulfil their first mission which, for most of them, sadly ended up as their final duty for their country. I commend them for having the courage to leave not only their loved ones and their beautiful land, but also the promise of the bright future they could have had— had they opted to stay at home.
SO I ASKED myself. Where was I when I was on my late teens and early twenties? What was I doing?"
I recalled I was studying to become a vet in a school not far from my hometown. And yes, I had just completed that four consecutive years of the, then, compulsory military education and training for Filipino students... yet I would not have been able to display the necessary gallantry had there been a call for me to be on the line of duty for national defence. The coward in me could have just boldly or, better yet, easily convinced myself to rather stay and never ever dare to confront any bullet that could potentially shatter the dreams I had for my future.
BUT LOOK AT those young ANZAC heroes who, after getting off from the boat at dawn, selflessly weathered the torrential rain of bullets from the offending Ottoman armies, withstood the unutterable pain of wounds or burns, and down to the last drop, spilt their life-giving blood on the slopes— flooding the shores of that cove in Turkey more than a century ago.
For me, it is not just enough to only remember them. We should be truly grateful for having this fair degree of peacefulness and freedom we currently enjoy in this world. It may be admirable to emulate their heroism as we face any war in our modern era. Aren't we luckier, somehow, to have received the command to stay and face this battle against the virus in the comfort of our own home?
I salute those boys and girls for their bravery in facing definite uncertainties as they sailed off to fulfil their first mission which, for most of them, sadly ended up as their final duty for their country. I commend them for having the courage to leave not only their loved ones and their beautiful land, but also the promise of the bright future they could have had— had they opted to stay at home.
SO I ASKED myself. Where was I when I was on my late teens and early twenties? What was I doing?"
I recalled I was studying to become a vet in a school not far from my hometown. And yes, I had just completed that four consecutive years of the, then, compulsory military education and training for Filipino students... yet I would not have been able to display the necessary gallantry had there been a call for me to be on the line of duty for national defence. The coward in me could have just boldly or, better yet, easily convinced myself to rather stay and never ever dare to confront any bullet that could potentially shatter the dreams I had for my future.
BUT LOOK AT those young ANZAC heroes who, after getting off from the boat at dawn, selflessly weathered the torrential rain of bullets from the offending Ottoman armies, withstood the unutterable pain of wounds or burns, and down to the last drop, spilt their life-giving blood on the slopes— flooding the shores of that cove in Turkey more than a century ago.
For me, it is not just enough to only remember them. We should be truly grateful for having this fair degree of peacefulness and freedom we currently enjoy in this world. It may be admirable to emulate their heroism as we face any war in our modern era. Aren't we luckier, somehow, to have received the command to stay and face this battle against the virus in the comfort of our own home?
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