"On Condition"
If someone had told me when I was at school, I would not have believed it. If I tell people today, they say they have not heard of it. Of course it was a long time ago. But it is true: if you were 18, you had to do something called national service. If you were reasonably fit — could stand up, walk about, sit down and then stand up again and not fall over — you would have to report to a military barracks near where you lived. If I had taken the trouble to think about the practical side of the matter, I could have chosen a different service. There were after all the navy and the airforce. The navy wasn't very likely unless you had had dozens of uncles and grandparents in the service before you.
In my case this didn't apply at all. The airforce somehow appealed. I liked the idea of tearing through the skies away from it all. If I think about it now, I just can't imagine why I liked the idea especially since flying for me today is a total nightmare. It probably came from Great Aunt Mary - she wasn't that big but she had acquired the title "great" because she'd been alive for so long. Anyhow she used to say: "If you really do your national service, you'll probably be a pilot. I can just see you sitting in a nice aeroplane." Of course if you objected to any type of violence against your fellow man, you could always object — officially I mean. If you thought along those lines, you were called a "conscientious objector" and you had toappear before a special tribunal and explain your reasons. Again you wouldprobably be exempt from military service if you came from a long line of conscientious objectors. In that case you would work in a hospital for two years as a porter. But then my family didn't do a lot of objecting. I came from an ancestral background who generally agreed with the majority. We didn't like to make a fuss. The general philosophy that prevailed was: "If Iwere you dear, I'd get on with it." On top of that I wasn't very conscientious either. We had a black sheep in the family of course. He telephoned me shortly before my 18th birthday and said: "If you really want to get out of doing national service, I'll help you all I can. If I were you, I'd do what I'm doing." His idea was to live abroad until he was 26 and then come home. It seemed a bit extreme to me. If he'd known what happened in the end, hewould have done it here because he got caught for military service in the other country where he was living!
In my case this didn't apply at all. The airforce somehow appealed. I liked the idea of tearing through the skies away from it all. If I think about it now, I just can't imagine why I liked the idea especially since flying for me today is a total nightmare. It probably came from Great Aunt Mary - she wasn't that big but she had acquired the title "great" because she'd been alive for so long. Anyhow she used to say: "If you really do your national service, you'll probably be a pilot. I can just see you sitting in a nice aeroplane." Of course if you objected to any type of violence against your fellow man, you could always object — officially I mean. If you thought along those lines, you were called a "conscientious objector" and you had toappear before a special tribunal and explain your reasons. Again you wouldprobably be exempt from military service if you came from a long line of conscientious objectors. In that case you would work in a hospital for two years as a porter. But then my family didn't do a lot of objecting. I came from an ancestral background who generally agreed with the majority. We didn't like to make a fuss. The general philosophy that prevailed was: "If Iwere you dear, I'd get on with it." On top of that I wasn't very conscientious either. We had a black sheep in the family of course. He telephoned me shortly before my 18th birthday and said: "If you really want to get out of doing national service, I'll help you all I can. If I were you, I'd do what I'm doing." His idea was to live abroad until he was 26 and then come home. It seemed a bit extreme to me. If he'd known what happened in the end, hewould have done it here because he got caught for military service in the other country where he was living!
Source: http://www.english-test.net/lessons/13/index.html
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar