I have seen you share your rations, your water in your canteen with those
who hunger and those who thirst; I have heard how you absorbed the grenade, living the words of David’s 23rd Psalm by fearing no evil and willingly walked into the shadow of the valley of death…I have seen your dead bodies in Africa, paying penance for doling out food to the hungry and in the Balkans fighting genocidal sociopaths for our Muslim brothers and sisters; I have seen politicians of all stripes using you as props to further their venal careers; I have seen those who were born in August surroundings, who went to school in August surrounding, and now are employed in August surroundings, deciding your fate; I have witnessed those in loafers and cardigan sweaters drinking tea with their pinkies elevated and eating crumpets, while disparaging your service, not realizing that you gave them the right to do so; I have seen Jane Fonda making a mint off exercise tapes, while you struggle to put food on your table for your own family; I have seen you struggle to mend your tattered conscience because of the nature of
war; and I have seen the white crosses adorning the landscape of Western Europe and Forest Lawn. And in the wee hours of awe when I look in on my wife and daughter sleeping in safety-it’s because of you; when my daughter is telling me to buy her this or that-it’s because of you; when I have to watch Hannah Montana or Dora the explorer–it’s because of you; on Sundays when I worship the Christ in freedom-it’s because of you; and when I watch my God-awful Oakland Raiders-it’s because of you. I honor these soldiers: Kenneth Temple who taught me about the fairer sex; to John who introduced me to ACDC and Def Leppard and I returning the favor by introducing him Bob Marley; to Sergeant Pablo who fed us his wife “Kimchi” and snake in the desert of Yakima; to Sergeant Autry who daily ran us 7-10 miles at Fort Lewis; To Master Sergeant Williams who would deliberately cut the Com lines in the dead of night I had laid down on the German tundra--so to build my fortitude and discipline; to Captain flowers who, while we were training in the German Mountains, went out to pick up our mail and never came back. To paraphrase Colin Powell, when our soldiers fall in defense of noble Democracy, all we ask is for enough earth to honor and bury our dead; moreover, it was the Christ who said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his...brother.” Have a festive Memorial Day honored living and dead….
-Verily Prime
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