War Story

I'm sitting having a tea at my coffee shop and reviewing some of the comments from my  "Facebook Rant".  Thanks everyone I love getting comments.

An older gentleman sitting next to me is having coffee with friends.  He is a story teller by nature and everyone around is a welcome audience.  He is reciting a story of the Second World War,  his story.  He must have been just old enough to join up at the time.  A story that has been told before.  His world view at 18 probably is different now, it changed in a moments time, on a battlefield somewhere far away from home.  Now his stories are funny, bring a smile to people who listen.  I can see him as a young man, a little less sure of himself than he is now.  These first hand accounts of that time are few now.  I feel fortunate to hear him speak.  Unfortunately, there are too many war stories, that will never die because people live them now, everyday in other places.  We can see them on the news, every time we turn on the TV, or follow a newsfeed online.  One of the reasons I've given up on the visual news media,  it's too vivid, too real.  I feel too helpless.  We have so much freedom in our part of the world,  we should take a moment and think about that.