A sincere message
A sincere message My dear friends,
Today when I left my office, the monument of the 99th Norwegian Inf Bn, which is just near, was flagged, at half mast . When I arrived at Baugnez, Old Glory was also half mast and just then our national radio stopped his broadcast. It was noon and they played John Lennon's song 'Imagine'. It was perfectly well chosen and my heart was bleeding.
I went on, past the monument of the 'Big Red One' in Butgenbach and finally arrived at Losheimergraben. On both sites the flags were half mast. This comforted me in thinking that I was not the only one, Belgium too had its heart bleeding.
As a cocky teenager I was believing in the human being, the Good and the Bad and God's Judgment. As time passed by, I realized, disappointment after disappointment, that my belief was going to pieces. Tuesday, the last portion of belief, which I thought was solid as a rock, has collapsed and my heart is bleeding.
Life has taught me that revenge is not the way to solve problems. But the lessons of the life, which are part of my belief, seem to be wrong sometimes. Many innocent people will die but this is the way it has to be done. When gangrene is showing up you have to amputate to save life. The coming future doesn't look good, and my heart is bleeding.
You folks know that you have friends in Belgium. We cannot do much from here, we just want to share your pains and sorrow. Hope this helps in stopping so many hearts from bleeding.
Jean Philippe Speder
Belgium
