I like to think that I'm a typical blokey bloke who can drink and belch and wench with the best of them. I like to think it but I know it's a load of codswallop (apart from the belching). The truth is that I'm a big wuss who's scared of his own doorbell and still can't get through the first five minutes of Watership Down without blubbing. The reason I mention this is because I wanted to share my latest cheek-moistening experience, something I stumbled across the other day. It's from a war memorial at Gallipoli in Turkey with a quote from Kemal Atatürk, an officer in the first world war and later President of Turkey. It reads:
"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… You are now
lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There
is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they
lie side by side here in this country or ours…
You, the mothers, who
sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons
are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. Having lost their lives on
this land, they have become our sons as well"
I bet I'm not the only one to shed a tear.
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