Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Message

A message from writer Insane Englishwoman.



    This is a quick note to apologies to anyone reading my unfinished tale Tin Soldier, where a British soldier loses her legs and is temporarily blinded. The apologies are because this tale is likely to remain unfinished. I began it with every intention of completing it and having my soldier find a future with the nurse who helps her through. I had received the next three chapters back from my beta, had made the required corrections and was ready to post them.

    And then a bomb went off in Afghanistan. A 19 year old British soldier was caught in the blast. He lost a leg immediately. The second became infected and also had to be amputated. He was left temporarily blinded and it was touch and go whether his sight came back. I don't personally know him but he is a friend to some acquaintances of mine. From them I have heard of his struggles to regain his life. He doing better, he has a new baby son. And he has (through some very painful processes) recovered partial sight. He's still got a long hard road ahead of him. Recently he featured in a BBC documentary along with several others similarly injured, whose lives are now far from the way they expected.

    I always intended my character to go through hell, I wasn't going to gloss over how hard it is to recover. But she is just a character. And suddenly writing some light romance, no matter how much I put her through, seemed almost insulting in the light of his blood, tears and sweat and that of all our dead and injured. I found myself unwilling to post the chapters I had completed and unable to continue the story.

    I don't know if I'll ever be able to continue it but, for now, readers should be aware that it will most likely not be finished. I am very sorry.


Well there you have it folks. Whatever you think about the wars we're currently fighting - and I personally think we had some slight justification for the Afghan conflict but we've totally bollocksed the thing. And I feel that the Iraq invasion was completely illegal, we shouldn't be there, we should never have been there and (in many ways) we've behaved disgracefully while we've been there. Whatever you feel about the wars - there are a lot of good young men & women doing their damnedest to do their duty, risking death and injury, in pretty bad conditions and for very little reward. The wars are wrong. We should bring them home. But those young soldiers deserve our respect and our gratitude.

Stay safe. Goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

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