HOW EXCEPTIONS CAN BECOME RULES.

Picture this: You're a 96 year old, who, at 18 joined the Army, not through patriotic duty but because you came from a poor family and, as the eldest of 8 kids, your father pushed you to, as unemployment was high and your mother said that at least you'd be regularly fed and have clothes to wear. You did your training and then you were deployed overseas. At the age of 21, a vessel on which you were travelling was sunk and you were captured by your enemy in the Pacific. You endured two years as a prisoner-of-war under the Japanese (there were some Korean guards, as well) and you endured a diet of grey, maggoty rice and watery soup, as well as beatings and other privations, but there was one guard, a young Japanese, who treated you humanely. In August, 1945, you are told that the war is over. You are unwell, and when your camp is liberated, you are hospitalised for several months, before you become well enough to travel and you begin your journey home.

Upon return, you find employment, later get married and start a family. You buy a Holden FX. You also start drinking a bit after the end of your working day. You become angry, easily. All the time, in the back of your mind, you have flashbacks to what you endured. After a few years, you see Japanese vehicles on the road. Your anger intensifies and you swear you'll never buy one. But you don't tell anyone around you.

Your kids grow up, they leave home and get married, one by one. You progress through the company, and while you have now had a few Holden cars, they are then joined by Fords as company cars.

You come into your sixties, and by now you have a few grandkids. One day, at around the time you are scheduled to retire, your grand-daughter comes to visit you. She's now in high school. Her mother, your daughter, without knowing much about your past, as you wouldn't open up about it, says that her daughter is enjoying learning Japanese at high school. You don't say anything. Then, after you're retired, the company issued Ford Falcon was given to you as part of your retirement package. Your daughter is visiting and her daughter tells you that they are hosting a Japanese exchange student for a few weeks. "Pah!" you splutter. "I spent four years fighting against them, and two of them in a POW camp, and now you're telling me you're hosting a student! Don't bring her here!"

"Dad," begins your daughter, "that isn't fair." Similarly, your wife looks at you and her mouth drops open and she remembers how you told her never to buy any Japanese crockery or anything else. Nothing more is said.

In your second year of retirement, you are teeing up for a game of golf with an old friend, who asks how your wife is. "She's all right. Wants me to buy a smaller car, though."

"Yes, I did that last year. The cost of petrol is going up."

"What did you buy?"

"A Toyota Corolla 4WD."

"You couldn't pay me to have one of those!"

"Why not?"

"I spent two years as a POW! They're not getting any of my money! My granddaughter having an exchange student from there is bad enough!"

"Yes, I lived through that war, too, you know?"

"Well, how could you, as a veteran of that, give them any of your money?"

"I suppose, over time, you start to forgive and you start to forget."

"Well, I can't! What they did to so many of us-"

"Don't you have anything that you can say that is positive?"

At this point, you stop to think.

"Well, I suppose. I mean, there was one guard, a young fellow, who had a softer side. I remembered, when I wasn't too good, he slipped me some Vitamin tablets. And, I remember, this same guard, when he was told to beat us, used to do it lightly."

"Well, there you are."

One day, you are scheduled to play golf with this same friend, but you have a flat battery in the car. You ring him to say you can't make it.

"Well, I can give you a lift, if you like."

Reluctantly, you agree.

You step into the Corolla 4WD and you are surprised. It has a good radio, on which your friend is listening to the ABC, and the car is quite comfortable.

"This is a nice little job," you say.

"Well, yes, and my wife likes it, too. That's what also matters."

"Yes. What's this?"

"That's the lever that decides if you want to be in low range or high range or just normal. It has full-time 4WD."

"Yes, it's quite smooth."

Upon returning home from golf, your friend lets you take it around the block. You are more impressed. You go inside to your wife.

"You know, Love, I got to take that Corolla around the block."

"And?"

"Well, it's not a bad car to drive."

After a you've done some travelling, you trade your Ford Falcon in on a Corolla 4WD.

After you've had it a while, your son-in-law asks you to come over and help him with something. You do, and your granddaughter is sitting in the lounge with a young Japanese girl.

"Grandpa," she begins. "This is Satoko."

"Hi," she says.

"Oh, Hello Satoko."

You help your son-in-law and your daughter asks you if you'd like to stay for lunch. Satoko gives you some of the sushi she's made. You bite into it, and you find it to be quite pleasing, and you find you want more. You see that Satoko's grandfather may have been against you in the war, but the war wasn't Satoko's fault. And what she does or doesn't know about it isn't her fault either. Your memories of the war continue to haunt you, and you can't escape that, but you start to see that not all of your former enemy wish you harm.