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SPIRIT
Senior Member

since 2002-12-29

Posts 1745
California Desert

0 posted 2004-11-20 03:06 PM

I Came Home

I love it here,
it is so peaceful,
the trees overhang impressively,
offering much needed shade.
They are filled with nesting birds,
a sign of rebirth in the near future.

I stand here
with my military buddies
and I feel grounded
and at peace… a peace
I have not known for a long time,
it is most welcome.

I look into my mother’s eyes
that are filled with unshed tears,
they hover at the brink
waiting for the right time
to be privately shed.

There is a certain pride
in my father’s stance,
as he supports my mother.
He understands sacrifice
and accepts it as part and parcel
of who we are…we of the human race.

There is a price to pay
for freedom…
and for centuries
it has been paid by those
willing to Serve and Protect.

I love it here,
or did I already say that.
I wish my parents could see me
and know that I still am.
That box lowered into the ground
does not contain me
for I am still here
in essence.

Oh! If I could tell them
that I didn’t suffer.
It all happened so quickly,
I was one moment alive
and by the time I hit the ground
I was departed from my earthly home.

My mother is hanging
onto the folded flag,
as if it is her life support.
There are several military personnel here,
as well as three from my own division
of the service…I feel honored.
When they played Taps - I wanted to cry,
I always found it most moving.

They talk about my bravery
and my heroism…
I want to call out and correct them.
I lived my life in fear,
I felt inadequate and cowardly,
but I am now in a place
where I can forgive myself
of my shortcomings,
and accept that I did my best.

Where I am at now,
is a place of contentment
and of forgiveness,
but I still remember
that which I disliked.

How I hated the dusty desert,
with the blinding sand storms
that wrought havoc with my senses.
The never knowing when or where
the silent enemy would strike,
the sense of hopelessness
as you watched your friends
die one by one in pursuit of freedom.

How I also disliked
the mean-spirited media
that loved to tell you
that you were dying
for nothing…
bringing morale down
to an all time low.

Put on my list also
the couch potato politicians
who denounce our Government
and their actions.
Know it alls who know
…absolutely nothing.

Add also to the accounting,
the demonstrators
who spit on the graves,
of those who gave their lives…for them,
that they might have the freedom
to demonstrate and badmouth all they want.

My parents could have opted
for a National Cemetery
in which to lay my empty housing,
I am so happy that they
brought me home.
There are thousands
upon thousand of us
in cemeteries all over the world.
Some even buried in certain wars
at the site of their death.

We are mourned and grieved over
that is to be expected,
sadly though that as the years pass
many are forgotten,
lost within the history
of generations past.

Today in Spirit
my buddies and I showed up here,
for my farewell.
Tomorrow we go to Mickey Paul’s
in his home town in Nebraska,
and then on to Johnny’s in Oregon.

Please - we have but one request
don’t forget any of us
and enjoy your freedom
…the rent has been paid,
and will continue to be paid
as due - for all time.

Yes indeed!
I love it here,
it is so peaceful,
the trees overhang impressively,
offering much needed shade.
They are filled with nesting birds,
a sign of rebirth in the near future.

I am so very happy and thankful
I came home.

DavePage
Member Elite

since 2003-12-21

Posts 2917

1 posted 2004-11-20 03:42 PM

Soldiers do what they are told to do, and that is how you are trained and what you volunteered for.

Whether the war is right or wrong, is not what you were trained for.

Politicians get voted in (in theory) to make decisions that represent their beliefs.

People in a democracy have freedom of speech and opinion.

That is how we live and it doesn't have to be perfect because it never will be.

Yes you stand to lose your life at a moment's notice but there was never any threat to the US or the UK from Iraq, just I think some unfinished business from daddy and I think people lied to get this war started which has now made the entire world unsafe.

Like a surgeon operating on a small cancer growth, we now find it spread throughout the whole body after the operation.

Saddam was bad, but when did we invade Russian or China to save the killings of far more people, or Cambodia where far more were killed.

Dave

SPIRIT
Senior Member

since 2002-12-29

Posts 1745
California Desert

2 posted 2004-11-20 04:03 PM

Wow! Well my piece was not a political statement - just a piece I wrote for Veteran's Day as a tribute for those who have given their lives that we might have freedom. A voice of someone who went before their time - for me and for you.

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