Angličtinu mi nekontroloval žiadny učiteľ, pretože som to (klasicky) robila na poslednú chvíľu :D
This year we mark 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The global war lasted from 1 September 1939 to 2 September 1945, exactly six years and one day. Over 100 million people from over 30 countries were directly involved and the death toll was 50 million to 85 million, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. On this occasion, we arranged meetings with some veterans that kindly answered our questions, and we also went out to the streets and asked the people of today, what are their thoughts.
Alfred, the ninety-years old man, was very young when he was forced to go to the war. He says: „I was young, too young, even for the desperate times when there was not enough men. Everyone I knew was older, like three or four years. Even the new ones that I’ve seen coming, they were all older than me.“ When asked why he was even on the front, he answers that he doesn’t know. „Maybe it was a mistake. They were taking men and I was there. They took me, too.“
Many of the veterans that we talked to, remember the days in groups of armies as black and hopeless. George, a nice and smiling great-grandad, tells us a story: „There was this guy named Jacob. We became friends there, in the barracks. He would help me when I was new there and I was still afraid, like when the drumfire began. Actually, I tell this story quite a lot, you know, my great-grandson, Jake, he’s six years old. He always comes to my room carrying two big oranges – saying he brought me tangerines – and asks me to tell him the story about Jacob the Brave. I bet he already knows every word of it. Shall I tell you as well?“ When we said yes, he carried on: „There was this one quiet, very quiet day on the front. Everything was fine – as fine as it gets when you’re in the trench – when then, suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, there came a handgrenade. It just fell in front of us, no idea where from. We all tried to cover, but there wasn’t much space. Just Jacob didn’t. My jaw was probably somewhere on the ground when I saw what he did: he jumped on the grenade and covered it with his own body. We all thought he’s gone bananas – but there‘s always been just a thin line between courage and madness. We cried, we shrieked, we were waiting for the explosion. But nothing came. Jacob was safe and sound. After that, we found out that the grenade was not released. But still, it had some effect on us – we kind of more stuck together, you know.“ The story, unfortunately, ends sadly. Jacob the Brave died some weeks after because he was hit by a shrapnel.
When asked whether he thinks the war is over, Arthur told us: „That one? The Second World War? That one is over, half-forgotten. But wars continue. Conflicts, especially bloody conflicts, always appear somewhere. We think it doesn’t involve us, but it does. And it’s coming. I saw in the news what’s happening on Ukraine. Perhaps now, that it’s closer, people will notice, they will notice that it never went away. I... I remember it like it was yesterday. Is it really seventy years?“ George gave us similar answer: „Times changed, but this didn’t. There might be better guns, deadlier weapons, but the men there, they are just like we were. I honestly don’t think they are there because they want to. It’s just – it’s just that the ones, who want the war, don’t want to get their hands dirty.“
We also went out to the streets and asked people of various ages – from students, going home from school, to clerks, going home from their jobs. Many were surprised, when we told them about the 70th anniversary, some even stood in silence for a few moments, looking like they were counting the years in their minds. Others were well aware of the fact and planned to visit war memorials or graves of their ancestors. „My dad fought in that war,“ tells us Samantha. „He never wanted to talk about it. Just the... thing – like sadness, but not sadness – I’ve seen in his face... I hope, that no one will have to see that again, that there will be no young people who have seen enough horror for a lifetime. I’m trying to believe that we, as people and nations, that we got wiser over the years. That we learnt something from the history. Am I naive? I don’t know, maybe.“
People seemed to be scared by being quoted in newspaper, mostly students, which knowledge comes only from the history books that are often too boring to study from. But we met one young man, Ed, as he introduced himself, on his road from college. He took out the earphones and when we asked about the end of the WW2 and how he feels about it, he’s got an interesting opinion: „You know, there’s this TV series that I watch. And once I heard there: ‚Demons run when a good man goes to war.‘ And I think, you know, I think that is sort of true, like, you know, some people say that the war isn’t over, that the demons are not gone, they‘re just asleep. But I think that as long as there are good people on this earth, demons won’t win. Because when good men go to war, the demons are gonna run, run and hide. There’s nothing scarier than a nice man, when he gets angry. You’ve ever seen a gentleman get angry? It scares the life out of you. And demons, all those demons of war and things, you know, they‘re cowards, they‘re afraid, and they‘re gonna run away from the fury of good men.“
„I don’t know what is the definition of a war,“ explains Sarah, „but I don’t think it ended, it keeps raging on, in various forms. States don’t stop fighting, we just choose not to see it.“ On the other hand, Harry is much more optimistic: „I think that something as big as the World War II is not gonna happen again. The outcomes were too devastating for us to start this all over again. Are we going to destroy ourselves? No, I don't think so.“
We all can only hope that Harry is right. Having hope, even in the darkest of times, is what defines us as humans, what helps us to survive. After all the struggle we’ve been through, we still walk the earth tall and proud. Let us stay this way in the years to come. Shall we not forget what preceded the 21st century.
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