"War is devastating, its prejudice and it takes without remorse. It steals the lives of the innocent and murders everyone

around it.However, in these times full of hate and evil, it is a necessary evil. How are we supposed to live in happiness

while there are forcest that try to pull us down if we do not take the action to protect ourselves? This is not an action

taken without a cause, that causebeing the lives of our children and the freedoms we enjoy. Our very values have

become a ransom and we must work together todestroy the forces rising up against us. After war was declared on us this

morning, we must sacrifice ourselves for the generationsahead so that we may all live with the ways of our country that

we have lived with during the golden period was stolen from us bythe very land in which we had trusted. This is the

beginning of a long and hard war and I pray that we may all see it through so that

we can get through this dark tunnel ahead of us so that we may find the light once again." 

This was my first memory, and my first taste of fear. The radio blasted the message around the room. A night of joy had

ended witha bitter taste. My extended family were scattered around the room after a party celebrating  the new marriage

between my cousin and her husband. This happy moment in history had been tainted by the declaration of war, and

many tears were shed as the announcement echoed across a deathly silent room. That was the first night of the war and I

was sent out of the country afterthat night. My mother had rushed me upstairs and had packed up my small things in a

bag. The next day she had sent me and myolder brother, Jong-suk,  to another country. My brother, being four years

older than me, was only eight at the time and was oneof my many siblings. I had four older sisters and two older brothers

and, as the two youngest in the family with an of 8years, my brother and I were sent to another country, far away

from the war. Our family had to stay due to my father's position inthe government and I spent my days in Ostrait, a

country half a world away from my home in Eplea. 

My childhood wasn't negatively affected by this change and my days were spent with a strange happiness that was

unseen in manyof the places around us. My aunt, who my brother and I lived with, was very wealthily and provided us a

wonderful education andmany opportunities. Ostrait also wasn't affected by the war in many ways and it became a safe

haven for many children from bothsides of the war. Due to my age I didn't have any prejudice towards the children

from Skaica but I do remember a few moments of hostility between the older children around the area. 

The first time this had occurred had been between my brother and one of the older boys from Skaica. The fight had

broken out at lunch and I was eight around the time.

"You’re the ones who started messing with the animals, its not our fault that

we wanted to protect them," the boy had yelled at my brother. Jong-suk glared back at him," It was none

of Skaica's buisness aboutwhat Eplea was doing. If your country hadn't then we would all still be with our families! If

this all happened then I could be with Ji-eun and the rest of my family and they wouldn't be-" Jung-suk stopped when

he saw me standing there, watching the argument. He turned away from the other boy and started to walk towards me. A

small rock hit his head as he walked away and he slowly turnedback to the other boy, Jung-suk's hand was clenched and

he attacked the other boy. After a few minutes the teachers ran over to stop the fight but many other's had joined in.

After that time, the administration had been forced split the school in half, one half of the children being from Eplea and

the other half being the kids from Skaica. This caused the two parties to never meet and, although more peaceful, it

ripped one of my best friends from my grasp.