10 October 2023
Dear Editor,
“If you are not prepared to use force to protect civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism,” are the very sage words of African-American, Korean War Veteran, philosopher and economist, Dr Thomas Sowell.
And there’s little doubt that Dr Sowell’s UN allies in the Korean War he fought alongside, the Brits, would have agreed, because the late Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK, The Very Reverend, William Ralph Inge, said:
“It is useless for the sheep to pass to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion,” along with,
“The enemies of freedom don’t argue; they shout, and they shoot.”
Once upon a time, we were in dire straits. We had rations and we had ammo, but we had no water. There was an officer among us who was willing to surrender come sunrise, but I wasn’t ready to be taken prisoner, tortured and, chances were, killed so I declined his offer to sit around and wait to die.
They call it mutiny but the way I saw it, do I mutiny or wait for death? Truth be told, it took longer to tell it than to reach the conclusion to take the one-in-a-million chance to attack the enemy in the dead of night, which is what we did.
Now, to the point of my story. They had sentries stationed, of course, but no dogs. There was hesitation when hesitation would’ve sunk us. The unanticipated pause in the plan was the reluctance to quiet the little kids on guard duty, kids maybe 13 years old, maybe even younger. Young or not, had we been spotted the alarm would’ve sounded and we would’ve been slaughtered, simple as that.
All we wanted was water and to be left alone, how basic can you get? But some of us were killed and wounded as some of them were. Plus, we couldn’t speak the language, and sign language doesn’t work in the dark. So, we had to take out the sentries using knives and that’s when it almost came unglued.
It’s quite amazing what one will do when the chips are down. I said to either use your knife and take the kid out or I’ll do the same to you right here and now, so help me God.
It worked; he took his out and I took mine. The firefight was swift, but it seemed a lifetime, no, that’s not quite right: two lifetimes, a double lifetime and I can prove it because I had 17 years of a recurring nightmare. They call it PTSD.
That’s right, I was the wolf, we all were, and we survived.
End of story.
But there’s a moral. Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan until you get punched in the mouth.” And when you fight for your life, all the highfalutin talk goes right out the window.
My advice to the world is let Israel take whatever revenge they want because I know exactly where they’re coming from, and I can’t blame them one bit. They are, after all, fighting for their lives.
And you know what the crazy part is? If the Muslims would stop their hatred and lay down their weapons, there would be peace. If the Jews laid down their weapons, they be massacred.
Professor ‘Trah the masks’ Zorkophsky