Reality, cruel? or simply real ?

This chapter on "The Soccer War" was really really interesting and full of emotion. When Kapuscinski meets with the soldier who has no real intention of being and participating in the war, I realized that this is a reality that many have to live in. How harsh can this be? In this case a great example and comparison would be Colombia. In my country there are people that have to participate in the colombian army because they can´t pay (like many of the people in the "high class" society can) to be exented on taking part on the army. At the same time there are many farmland workers who have been taken to work and fight for a idiology which is not theirs and that which they don´t even agree with eg. Las FARC or ELN, when kindnapping poor people to fight for them. "He was a recruit, a dirt farmer; he had been called up a week ago, he didn´t know the army; the war meant nothing to him. He was trying to figure out how to survive it.
"He answered that when you live in a village it´s better not to ask questions because questions arouse the suspicions of the village mayor, and the mayor would volunteer him for the road gang..." (p.180)

It was really interseting what happened to this character (the farmer) and what he did when realizing that there were shoes that could be used by those in his family. How amazing can this be, that even in the middle of a war some details like this can become such a great and meaningful emotion. An emotion that can tear our hearts in small pieces, and emotion that is a reality for many in this world.
"He would strip a few of the dead of their boots, hide them under a bush and mark the place. When the war was over, he would return and have enough boots, for his whole family." (p.178)
"Now the war had a meanin g for him, a point of reference and goal." (p.178)