Who Tread The Road Before?

Wandering through time and history.

Walking the forest route this afternoon made me wonder how many others had walked it before. Not just this year, last year or the year before but last decade, last century and last millennia. 

The path next to the forest's edge has been well shaped by many a foot placed upon it. This particular forest is a natural one, one with slight hills and dales not like the modern soldier like forests. Row upon neat row they grow until their grim reaper happens upon them. Boring but I suppose necessary else we wouldn't have any forests left.

Some of the older villagers often told me stories about how hard life was during and after the second world war. How the forest had become their refuge when the Russian soldiers passed through on their return home. Horror stories of girls of all ages having to hide in and underneath stable manure, in wells and quite a lot of them in the forest. Yes, war is not a good thing.

The forest and its secrets. Good and bad. There must be many gold trinkets, rings and coins buried in it but sadly along with still to be detonated war ammunition forgotten or left there on purpose. One never knows what one would dig up so better not to dig up at all.

We tend to think that our problems and circumstances are the be all and end all yet, each generation before us has grappled with their load going about normal life, even perhaps along the forest's path.

To know that history was shaped beneath my feet is priceless and somehow it extends a connection to it. History gleaned from the dusty pages of a book is not the same as history absorbed from the places it was formed in. Let's hope that we can learn from history this time around...

Biggi