Page 164 - The Circle of Life
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their  wickedness  in  making  their  fellow  innocent  cadets  suffer  on  Sunday

               afternoons since God had ordained the seventh day as a day of rest, a command
               which  had  now  been  broken  with  their  communist  tendencies  of  sleeping  in
               church.  More  importantly  we  did  our  laundry  on  Sunday  afternoons  so  the

               culprit’s  snoozing  interfered  with  our  laundry,  which  is  not  an  acceptable

               behaviour between civilised men! Perhaps that had been the idea after all. To be
               sure,  they  never  slept  again  in  church.  They  should  be  grateful  for  the  life
               lesson.


               Then one day a Chaplain proved to me that they actually had a sense of humour

               when he explained that “Adam was originally a black man who got such a fright
               when  God  caught  him  stealing  apples  from  God’s  garden  that  he  turned  white

               from shock and fear. After all, when you get a fright you don’t turn black in the
               face…but  white!  It  is  a  well-known  medical  fact.”  I  chuckled  respectfully,  but

               took  bets  in  my  mind  on  how long he would last saying such things, which the
               Nationalists  would  surely  regard  as  sacrilege.  He  may  have  been  correct

               according  to  the  latest  genetic  research  for  all  I  know.  Perhaps  he  was  also
               ahead of his time.


               On a more thoughtful note, I once had a major fallout with the Chaplains. Some

               years later I got fed-up with the Chaplains meddling with my operations while I
               was on border duty.  Right at the time when I had wanted to follow some spoor,

               they wanted to talk to my platoon. From their point of view, it had been a great
               opportunity to fly in a nice Police helicopter to talk to us. For me it was like: “I

               have  a  job to do here which has no Biblical application, so please p off! I have
               terrorists to f kill if you don’t mind!” Because they were representatives of God

               Almighty, I could of course not speak my mind, and they had flatly (very brave I
               say) ignored my evil eyes to p off too. So I’d had to interrupt them by asking:

               “What  is  the  reward  for  faith  Chaplain?”  Their  answer  was  "To  go  to  heaven
               sergeant, and eternal life." I replied, quite reasonably I thought, "Chaplain, what

               should I do in heaven? By the time I arrive, God would have sentenced all of the
               criminals  and  terrorists  to life in hell. He therefore would have no need for my

               skills!  Who  should  I arrest or kill there? There can be no job or satisfaction for
               me in heaven, Chaplain. Do you wish for me to endure a thousand years year of

               extreme  boredom  while  I  wait  for  the  convicted  criminals  and  terrorists  to

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