To my son's son,

Grandson I am writing to you across time.
You asked, what is that dark place within your being?
What is the darkness that holds you back and questions the meaning of any purpose today. 
 
Grandson, we are within seven generations of each other and so my influence, involuntary as it is, is carried within you. It is my hope that this writing will answer your question and explain why you feel the way you feel and free you from my influence.

I died on the 4^th of April 1917 in a field in France and there I remain to this day. I left behind my wife and 7 children. For that I apologize to all my children and to their children.

The 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month once again is fast approaching and around the world people will gather to remember. They will pray, sing and lament those of us that have fallen and given our lives so the world could live in peace and security. Shortly after the ceremony most will return home and continue with their daily lives feeling that they have done their part and soon forget until the next time.

But you, my grandson, do not join in the ceremonies. Instead you stay away afraid to speak your true sense of disappointment towards what you call the charade. I suggest that you forgive yourself because it is not you that is disappointed. It is I. And I dare say the tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of us who sacrificed our lives fighting on both sides of the lines against a false enemy. An enemy that could have been defeated early had the incompetent, self serving leaders of the day not spent so much precious time playing political games and plotting strategies while the world became a tinder box and finally exploded into a vicious and violent battlefield.

They told us we were fighting the Great War, the war that would end all wars, and upon our victory peace and tranquility would encompass the world. Our children and families would live in security.
They lied and we died.
Our sacrifice was for what? Since the Great War there have been many wars and millions more around the world have died and the rulers and elected leaders continue to promise peace and tranquility while they scheme and build and sell more armaments. They negotiate deals that confers great wealth for a few while the majority of the worlds women and children wallow in scarcity and squalor.

Hundreds of millions of people today throughout the world live in fear and each day the trials grow more difficult and the resources more scarce and the elected representatives meet and promise that should this one more war or conflict be resolved, peace lays just ahead, yet they build more weapons and enter into conflicts and do no more than consult and barter and do little to ease the daily trials of humanity.

Even today millions wander the earth homeless, afraid, fleeing for their lives while the rulers and elected representatives eat well and sleep well and fill their treasuries and do little to ease the peoples plight.    

These so called guardians of the world do not work towards peace. They labor tirelessly at avoiding war while they plot for supremacy, advantage and control. They do not share unless there is gain. They allow the tyrants free passage and tolerate each others indiscretion and abuses on the premise that their own will be left unchecked.

My grandson as I recall my time in Europe I remember laying face down in soggy mud with my brothers in arms, chaos thunders around us, our flesh tattered, torn to bits, our limbs ripped from our bodies, our life blood oozing into the soil and our spirits separating from our bodies. We did not think of poppies growing row upon row amongst the crosses, many of us begged for one more moment of opportunity to do good in the world. We prayed that our families and our children's children will carry the torch and not allow the privileged to pray upon them.

Oh our grand children! Do not cry for us. Our eternal fate has been sealed and our God has judged us, we can do no more.
Cry and weep for yourselves. The opportunities for peace lay with you and your generation. If you continue to blindly tolerate the greedy and ignorant to lead you, a disaster more heinous than ours awaits you and your children.

You must stand up and demand that peace and well being for all of the peoples of the earth be the prime consideration of the rulers and elected leaders. You must question how a world population of 6 billion can allow a few thousand so called statesmen to cast the cloud of doubt and insecurity over all. You must question why you tolerate them calculating the numbers that will die while they build shelters and armies to protect themselves from their own folly. They, in their arrogance, even scheme to reestablish their empires after their inaction and action has brought destruction upon the world.

Oh our grand children only you can change your circumstance. Do Not Tolerate their procrastination. Demand them to work for peace and if they do not, then choose other leaders take away their powers and give it to others who will work for the benefit of mankind.

Oh our grand children, crying for our sacrifice will not compensate us.  Others have done this before you. Today you must do your part, carry the torch, raise the global flag, hold it high and demand this of your leaders and choose them wisely.

Shout and demand of your leaders,

"THE WORLD IS ONE, THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD ARE ONE, AND THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE IN POSTIONS OF AUTHORITY MUST TREAT IT AS SUCH!"

Do this our children and grand children and your debt to us will be paid.  

With Love
Your Grandfather
John.