Elections-Part III

"Once the mermites were stacked away the Soldiers who weren’t manning positions settled into a satisfied torpor, and several rooms filled with soldiers sprawled out like vagrants. Security is far and away the most critical element in a defense, but that duty also shares the distinction of being one of the most onerous. The difficulty with pulling guard doesn’t stem from any physical exertion; in fact it’s quite the opposite. When you stand guard behind a fortified position your awareness collapses down into a single lonely arc. As the hours wear on focusing on the same narrow shard of earth starts to weary the eye and numb the brain. Although you won’t read it in any book there are thousands of techniques to wile away the time. The techniques are passed down from Soldier to Soldier, forming a oral tradition that a Zen monk would envy."
365 and a Wakeup