Letter to an Unknown Soldier

Dear Brother,

As time has passed, and seasons gone by - I still wonder. In those lonely moments, quiet thoughts resurface, How long will you be gone? Are you still out there, fighting for your life? Or have you been able to find refuge from the bleak nightmare I assume war to be. Brother when you come back Ma and I will have a mini feast, all your presents - whether for birthdays or Christmas will be a pile of joy to look forward to.

I can't say much other than happy greetings, I see forced cheer from the women whose beloved ones are away. Oh brother, how I wish you were here as I relieve the memories - the soft crackling fire as you would tell me a story or legends from afar.

Or the play fighting in the barns, remember how I wished I could go with you to work brother? How I flailed and tried to sneak in, well now us women can work - and I do the job that you'd have done.

Dear Brother, please don't forget to write back, or spare some time from your sleepless nights to write me a message. Writing is an escape brother - I learnt a thing or two from the old women who work at the churches, they told me tales of what happened to men who couldn't take the heat and the effects it had on their minds.

My wonderful older brother your smiles could light up a room, I honestly hope that when you return you still smile in your dorky, endearing fashion. I'll show you the box that I've collected your letters in, together with Ma - we decorated it you know? With small embroidery and a few beads here and there. It's that box you made as a child thinking about being a carpenter. I love you big brother and when you come home we will all be waiting with our arms outstretched and hugs free for all! I'll write again soon brother I hope my letters make you smile.

Yours sincerely,

Your little sister

My inspiration,

I can't imagine what war is aside from knowing what they taught us in school. War - taking many lives and bestowing medals upon those who devised tactics on how to kill as many as possible of the opposition, or win the war.

It's a terrible thing that we haven't been able to get rid of - not entirely anyway, after all it's not as if everyone can be friends with every human on the planet! We are all different and those variations make us individuals, by that rule there will automatically be someone who 'rubs you the wrong way'. There's around 7 billion + people on earth right now. Well 2014 for me.

I'm writing because I was inspired by the other letters I read and I hope that one day when War is just a tiny dot on the horizon - to be diminished the other generations of people to come will honour the loss and sacrifice of all the soldiers, not just their own countries. As all of the men who went to war had families and all those families (the men who went, or the women that stayed) lost something along the line.

I just wish that one day instead of wars we will have peace treaties or if it's only between two members of importance - that they duke it out and don't drag innocent families into the crossfire.