I share a personal family anecdote.

My grandfather’s brother served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WW1, serving some time in Egypt.  Within his line of duty, he treated casualties from both sides. It is difficult to comprehend the atrocities he would have encountered and been forced to deal with on a daily basis. He became friends with one of his German patients, who out of gratitude gave him his field binoculars.

During WW2 whilst carrying out his duties as a member of the home guard he was shot in the face with blanks which blinded him for a time.  In 1942 he shot his wife before shooting himself; my aunt still remembers the day the news came to the rest of the family.  There was an inquest which concluded that his being shot in the face had caused blood clots which led to the actions he took.

Unlike his brother, my grandfather didn’t serve in WW1 although he did try to join the Navy on two occasions.  On the first occasion he did join up and received the ‘King’s shilling’ only to be told by his mother to take it back.  The second time he tried to join up his boss persuaded him against it.  He was in a reserved occupation and therefore not obliged to sign up and take part in the conflict.

Some years ago the German field binoculars were passed on to me along with a pair of my grandfather’s binoculars.  The binoculars that belonged to my great uncle are a poignant reminder of the futility of war and the consequences of power and greed but most importantly they remind me of man’s humanity to his fellow men.

When I went to get the binoculars out of the cupboard to take the photograph to go with this post I got both pairs of binoculars out and it was only then that I realised that the second pair were English Army issue from WW1 and that they must have belonged to my great uncle before my grandfather.

This personal story highlights the effects of PTSD, that many service men suffer, even now in more recent conflicts.

Those of you who have been following my blog for some time will know that last year presented some challenges for me and that I have not had much time for relaxation.  I was hoping for lots of free time over the Christmas break to enable me to gather my thoughts and get refocussed.  My days were a little bit more crowded and busy than I would have liked but even so my thoughts are coming back into focus (for now at least).

I know it sounds a little trivial, but one of the things I wanted to get tidied up was my flickr account.  I have been very lax with connecting my photos to collections which would make it easier to view a particular holiday or interest of mine.  I have now got that in order which then led me to sorting out all the superfluous groups I had managed to join for one reason or another. Eventually I get to the point and title of the post…

Before life crowded in on me one of the groups I enjoyed was ‘Perpetual Travellers’ (aprox 3 years ago).  It is a group of people that like to explore ideas, pathways, freedom, spirit, enlightenment and the experience of the journey and pathways in life.  These ideas were explored by conversation and through art and poetry.  I am hoping that in 2011 I will have enough free space to further explore these ideas.

Dani who started up the group had this to say:

I very much like the idea of: ” the experience of travel is more important than reaching the specific destination.” as long as we have a direction. But we do this, retaining the freedom of spirit to be able to suddenly change direction, if circumstances force us to, or if we need to change to discover new ways of welcoming the light.

My thoughts at the time were:

I think freedom and learning from others is important and exploring your own thoughts leads to enlightenment and new paths.

From Muslih-uddin Sadi:

Of journeying the benefits are many: the freshness it bringeth to the heart, the seeing and hearing of marvellous things, the delight of beholding new cities, the meeting of unknown friends, and the learning of high manners.

J. R. R. Tolkien expands on the idea:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

There are many pathways on the journey through life…