by Art Redwood

Created on: June 16, 2008

I meet a women once, that told me a story of her husband, this man had a childhood, that was filled with love and acceptance, as his mother doted over her large brood, and epitomized consideration, empathy, and protection, but never looked peaceful with those darting worry laden eyes that always seemed so firmly clasped on his father.

He was a stout man who had tried to seek solace and peace after returning from the great war, he like many others believed that too fight for King and country, was every young mans duty, but when he returned he was a changed man and the personal peace of sleep and heart was to elude this broken man for the rest of his days.

His son however grew in relatively peaceful times, but there was a dark undercurrent that threatened it before the last war had faded from living memory, and by the time the boy had become a man, he too was at war, again under the banner of fighting for peace. Through the mud and blood, he fought for all he was worth, and in the end peace came not by him shooting a gun or valiantly jumping from the safety of a fox hole, this peace was attained by the stroke of a pen some many thousands of mile away, it's just a shame that it hadn't been done the day before or his brother, would have made it home to for fill that promise of buying that cold and frosty beer, that was agreed upon years before as they prepared to ship out, and he was never at peace with his loss.

The man found something that resembled peace but it was actually contentment, when he finally married his child hood sweet heart, and they settled down to live their lives, and in that time he worked, loved, laughed, and strove, and they prospered, and he became a man of means, but even in success he didn't find the peace he craved. More wars came and went.

For a time many voice raised in unison to proclaim peace was upon them and that they should all usher in an era of peace, some even wrote songs about this being an age of it, and many grew their hair long, and practiced peaceful and loving things that shocked his old world sensibilities to the core, still he reasoned those people also wanted peace in their times, but none found any for along came another conflict, and peace seemed even further away than before.

And as much as he studied, or traveled, or searched, He didn't find that soul calming peace, that was so often promised by the papers or the books he read, he tried religion, and for a while practiced at being peaceful, but the memories of those

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