Words cannot describe...
© J. Francois Barnard – January 16, 2021
The year is 2021, and by now, we should have placed the South African Bush War in our past. But many cannot do so. We try to live in the here and now, but what happened pops up again.
The Battle Scars of Life
J. Francois Barnard – 6 October 2016
Life is not perfect. We all incur damage some or other time. But there are those times when more damage is done than usual.
Like in times of war.
Today we have the luxury of having a lot more knowledge about damage, therapy, and what wellness should look like. World War I and II veterans never heard the term “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” There were therapists, but no one specialized in Traumatology. My generation of South African men has been exposed to the South African Bush War. Many returned with experiences, but not with the vocabulary to describe them.
Conscripted
J. Francois Barnard - 22 November 2019
South Africa’s Bush war lasted for several decades. Some dispute the exact dates of this war. It is, however, safe to say that it was a serious war between the early 1970s to about 1990. The government passed a law that all white men were conscripted to serve in the military from the day they finish their school education up until about the age of forty or even later.
The Wounded Soldier
J. Francois Barnard – September 2016
It takes time, they say
For wounds to heal
But he never bled
Yet he could feel
I was a soldier once
J. Francois Barnard – September 2016
I was a soldier once
Fighting for a cause
The sense of it all was so clear then
But now I have to pause