As a man and as a veteran, it is hard for me to see our kids
going off to war. I may be old but I'm not so old that I still
feel like the protector. This might be a chauvinistic point of
view but I believe it is a natural instinct for a man to want to
protect his family. It hurts when I see the mothers and families
of these soldiers, too. The fear, sense of loss and dread is
sometimes too much for them to bear. But bear it they do. They
are all my hero's.
The loss of just one of our kids
diminishes us all. We are all bound together in the “family”
called Americans. We are even more strongly bound together in
nature. Mothers will always be mothers and fathers will always
be fathers. When one of “OUR KIDS” makes the ultimate sacrifice,
we all hurt.
I have written before about why it seems
like almost every generation must spill blood for freedom. I
know it seems like a curse, but by fulfilling our duty, each
generation is refreshed with the knowledge of why we have our
freedoms today and of the sacrifices of generations past. We
must never forget even one soldier who has died for this
country.
Take a walk down the rolls and rolls of graves
at any National Cemetery. Look at the names and wonder; what was
their life like? Did anyone love them? How did they die?
Does
anyone still remember them? Well God remembers and we should
too. A nation without heroes is a poor one, but a nation who has
heroes and forgets them is bankrupt.
Go to a VA hospital
or a VA nursing home. Watch, as the nurses have to carry men and
women into the bathrooms because they have no legs. Watch as the
nurses bathe them, hold them, cry with them, laugh with them and
sometimes hold their hands when they are dying. Does anyone
remember these veterans? What's their story? Does anyone love
them anymore? Male or female, black or white, these veterans are
OUR CHILDREN and for the most part we have abandoned them.
Abandoned them to a life filled with pain and loneliness.
This is hard for me to talk about and maybe hard for you to
hear. But there are worse ways to die than to die for God, Duty,
Honor and Country. But what we must never do is forget or turn
our backs on our soldiers as we once did. Our children are
wounded and sometimes die and they do it for YOU. But what hurts
them the most is to return to a world that no longer cares after
the war is over.
A Marine friend of mine used to say:
They have earned their WINGS OF HONOR. Lets all earn our wings
by remembering our veterans and our kids that are in far off
places in over 100 countries in this evil world. Pray that the
Supreme Commander watches over them all. |
