"You knew what you were getting into! You chose to fulfil your military service with the Para Commando regiment. We couldn’t get a word in edgeways when someone told you about the possible risks."
I struggle with the thought.
To me, it’s like saying: "You shouldn’t have driven so fast in that street, ..."
If I remember correctly, it was mainly the "adventure" that appealed to me. After all, not everyone was allowed "in".
When there’s a fire, you need fire-fighters. People who can get the job done. Our training enabled us to jump out of a plane in any part of the world and complete our mission.
I hope there are people in every generation who will make these choices. And that the authorities provide them with the best training and equipment, by any possible means.
But this is the "easy" side of the medal. It is the story of what we spontaneously share with each other. The rhetoric we quickly agree on. It’s like getting lots of beer at a camp fire and be seduced into telling stories while the cameras are rolling for one or the other documentary.
Connectedness
I believe there will always be people with bad intentions, good intentions and often both at the same time. And that we reinforce these intentions as a group.
In other words, there is another side to the medal. A side in which the good about me resides. It is the willingness to see myself not separately from others, to always see the others in me. Talking about someone who is suffering is different from seeing someone suffer.
It is good to be strong and be able to resist danger.
Know then that it is also a good thing that we, here and now, can find the willingness to think about this. And the courage to not find it self-evident.
That is an important strength.