Page 46 - Return into Paradise

paradise, what would satisfy you, what would give you joy. Let us remind you
again of the war years and how all reunited as a community. Let you
remember that the little plot of land could feed a family, how a dandelion, now
considered a weed again, was an important part of the food chain, and the
nettle too. Remember how instead of a flower you planted a vegetable, or if a
flower it was an edible one. Remember how chicken was a luxury to eat as the
bird was needed for its eggs. Remember how red meat was also a rarity, at best
once a week. Food was rationed, but not the food you grew yourself. What a
healthy lifestyle war gave you. It was that you would repair your garments
rather than discard them. It was that you would repair rather than rebuild. It
might have been a life without sophistication, but it was a life. If you speak to
those who lived through that austerity, asked them about fun they may have
had. Usually they will still laugh at the memories of the simple fun they had,
whereas history only records the misery. The fun that was had is always about
the wonderful human interaction that took place when the community came
together. Isn’t it such a shame that it took a war to cause that. Isn’t it a shame
that it takes an illness to cause one to appreciate life. Isn’t it a shame that it
takes death to cause one to appreciate God.