I love, love fireworks. I love the beautiful colors, the deafening sound and the way the ground vibrates. But every year when the fireworks stop and all around is a curtain of smoke, my thoughts wander.
Is this what a battlefield must have looked like when our soldiers of long ago tried to seek cover from canon fire? As gunfire crackles today are our soldiers surrounded by similar plumes of smoke?
How can a mother, a father, a son or daughter step between the enemy and me? How can they risk their life to save the lives of people they don’t know and probably never will? I will never understand it I guess but I sure as Hell appreciate it.
Today I heard a song that many of you have probably already heard but I wanted to post some lyrics. It is a song by Toby Keith and it makes me cry every time.
You can bet that I stand ready when the wolf growls at the door,
Hey, I'm solid, hey I'm steady, hey I'm true down to the core,
And I will always do my duty, no matter what the price,
I've counted up the cost, I know the sacrifice,
Oh, and I don't want to die for you,
But if dying's asked of me,
I'll bear that cross with an honor,
'Cause freedom don't come free.
I'm an American Soldier, an American,
Beside my Brothers and my Sisters I will proudly take a stand.
When liberty's in jeopardy I'll always do what's right.
I'm out here on the front lines, sleep in peace tonight.
American Soldier,
I'm an American Soldier.
I know we all probably pray for our soldiers on the 4th of July but I am asking you to remember to do it everyday.
2 comments:
Beautifully said. We all get those emails every once in awhile, the pictures from Iraq and Afghanistan, a safe reminder of those who are never safe so that we can be, a request to pass them along, not break the chain, not forget them . . . and most times we do forward them, and perhaps feel good about ourselves for a moment and then forget about it, until the next one. I've always felt that prayers should begin with thanks for what we have . . . near the top of the list should be those who have placed themselves in harm's way for us.
-Dad -
WOW - I am crying. What an AWESOME photo and blog!! I am so forwarding this to everyone I know!!
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