Wounded Soldier
Swedish Translation (scanned newspaper article from ÖB)
I was speaking to a precious friend today. We had not met in months but had, as we often do, been in contact via e-mail. However it was much nicer, to actually converse with him "in the flesh" as we say. (Meaning: face to face).
A friend is a precious thing. They should never be overlooked or taken for granted, because in our crazy world, it often appears that we do not even have time, for those that we say we love anymore.
Everyone is so busy or so they say... In fact, my mother used to say that: "if you are too busy for someone you call friend, family, wife, husband, then that is too busy and one needs to reorganize their lives! So true. Thanks mom!
It seems that the world pays more attention to what is happening in other places, than right in front of our own eyes. I guess it might be easier to look elsewhere because then, we don't have to deal with that, in a realistic way. But we do have to deal with it at home, at work, in our community, right where we are.
Take the war for example, or should I say wars now... We see the sorrow it all, we see those displaced, innocent people murdered, homeless...
We see the military in combat; heavy casualties and if we actually take a minute from our often stressed our lives, we are saddened by all that.
Yet those are things happening in other lands, not in our country we think. Those young men and women who give their lives, who fight on the battlefield for equality for all..
Yes, they should be well looked after, cared for, receive the best medical attention and their families likewise, should be looked after by the governments that send them into those life or death situations.
Our taxes, we would hope, pay for such support. It is because of them that we have our freedom, our right to the pursuit of happiness...
We see the wounded soldiers on the battlefields all over the world, bleeding, dying, crying for help, well, often there is no help, there is no compassion, there is no love.
But let's turn our eyes on home for a moment. Right where we live. How precious is one life we could ask ourselves? Doesn't anybody care for others anymore? Has man gotten to a point, when only saving his own skin, in his own little world, is all that matters?
Now let's go back to my friend that I just met. Any community, city, job, should be glad to have such a person as he is. He's a good husband and father. He is a model citizen who has given all, to help others.
Fact is, is that he has given maybe too much. He has been pressed and re-pressed on his personal battlefield, to the point that there is no more to give, at least for now...
One might say that is has been "too caring" for others, too giving, too compassionate. It is time for him to get his batteries re-charged. And that might take a while...
When I have looked at him over the years, I see a man that has done the work of 3 or 4 and still never complained. But I wonder, why didn't those around him remark, that one person cannot endure such a heavy strain? Even God rested.
Now, he and his family are paying the price, for he is in a situation like the wounded soldiers we see on the News and that we read about in the Press.
No, he is not physically wounded in that sense. But the wounds he has, go deeper than what the natural eye can see.
As I looked in his eyes while we stood there in the early morning, his tears began to flow. I could see the hurt, the longing for a listening ear, an outstretched hand of compassion, someone that would help to mend the wounds that he has sustained, while on his battlefield, in this life.
Who will go to the wounded soldiers in our own city and land? Who will hold them in their arms and be patient with them, until their unseen sores are healed and they are healthy again, in their mind, soul and body?
My friend is one of the many who have been taken for granted, used all up, and now he and his family are left to "deal with it and get on".
Few are calling him, still few are visiting him or even sending a quick e-mail to simply say that he is thought of, prayed for... It is in these days, that we see what compassion is all about.
Another expression mom used to say: "Everybody loves you when the sun is shining and they can get something out of you. But when the rains come, and they will, then one really sees what the words friendship and love are all about.
As we parted, even though he saw that I had both hands full of sacks, still, he reached out to give me a brotherly hug. I think even I have become "too finnish" myself over these decades. Because I hugged him, even with all the sacks, but I didn't hug him too long...
And as I tried to pull back, still, my friend held on to me, like I myself used to do, when I first came to Finland. For me, there is nothing better than a real good hug from someone who really cares about you.
So I knew that this was a hug that was saying, "I need you, I need a friend today. I am hurting. Please care about me..." I broke down in tears too.
Will you help a wounded soldier? You don't have to be in a real war zone somewhere in the world. There is someone in your world, right where you are, that needs "attending to".
Love starts at home and it spills out of our house, into the streets and begins to flood the hearts of those who need it.
And if you are like me, we all need to be loved and we need to love. Not just saying it, but living it. Lets' do more, to prevent, our soldiers at home: (friends and loved ones), from ever having to be wounded. A healthy soldier is just what the General can use.
Christian-Charles de Plicque, Journalist14th September 2005
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