AT WAR

After visiting the memorials and sites that we have since we have been in this part of Europe, we have been talking about what it must be like to live in an occupied country, or a country that is at war. It is hard to imagine what it must to be like. There is no ‘back home’, because this is their home. There is no escaping the day-to-day struggle of life or death. Perhaps fighting in a war that they don’t agree with, or believe in. Thinking of groups like the ‘Resistance’, not knowing who your enemy was, not having the privilege of knowing what the outcome of the war would be, not being able to trust anyone, and wondering every day if it would be your last. And the same would apply to any country in conflict, up to the present day. It is hard to imagine.

We are reminded time and time again of how lucky we are in NZ, to be as far from the world stage we are. Thinking particularly about WWII, we know that the people of NZ went through hardships, restrictions, lost loved ones, and all of the things that are associated with a time of war. But I would venture to say that our isolation preserved us from much of the nightmare. Do we really have any idea what it must have been like for those whose home was and is in Europe.