Little Towns And Big Men.

This is the Pudsey War Memorial.
Pudsey is a small town in the heights to the West of Leeds, which probably sent hundreds if not thousands of men to fight in the trenches; many of whom never came home.
This memorial compares favourably to the one in Leeds City.
In fact it is three times the size.

This from a town which barely even exists since the 'Metropolitan' authority of Leeds was created in the early seventies.
The size of the memorial isn't due to relative prosperity.
It can only be due to the size of the grief-and pride-of the worthies of Pudsey in the twenties.
In nearly every village in this entire country is a memorial of some kind, either a monolith or a building, which commemorates the immense, voluntary sacrifice made by the great young men of the country.
So please bear this in mind the next time you hear of another soldier being killed in Iraq.
This country fought real wars, where a week in which half a dozen men were killed was regarded as peaceful.
And now, in case the founder of WalMart ever brings out an autobiography called 'Will There Ever Be A Rainbow?', this picture of ASDA(now owned by WalMart) should be comforting.