This days one must be careful to avoid awakening the pain of another.

My squad is my family, my gun is my provider, and protector, and my rule is to kill or be killed.

I get a chance to observe the moon now, I still see those same images I saw when I was six, and it pleases me to know that that part of my childhood is still embedded in me.

We must strive to be like the moon

In the sky there are always answers and explanations for everything: every pain, every suffering, joy and confusion.

When I was young, my father used to say, ‘If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.’ I thought about these words during my journey, and they kept me moving even when I didn’t know where I was going. Those words became the vehicle that drove my spirit forward and made it stay alive.

My teeth became sour as I listened to his story. It was then that I understood why he was quiet all the time.