A Soldier Died Today
If it rains tomorrow, as it usually does on Remembrance Day, I shall be thinking that the raindrops are the tribute of the skies to all the fallen men and women who served their countries in times of conflict. A tribute to those who served in uniform or mufti. To those who were on the front lines and to those who must needs stay at home because they were more needed there. Those who served on behalf of Canada, and those who served with her allies. All were warriors. And all are remembered.
As the last surviving veteran in my family, I stand in the present to represent the past and the future. I am Janus.
Will no one help to close my Gates?
As the last surviving veteran in my family, I stand in the present to represent the past and the future. I am Janus.
Will no one help to close my Gates?
posted by Chimera at 12:23 PM
4 Comments:
I shall not, as a closed gate will fence you in. I shall leave the gate open so you may be free...
I thank you for your service to our country. I know thanks is not enough, so I will also give you the most valuable thing I have... My respect.
Thank you, and all Veterans for your service.
Always, when the Gates are open, there is War. When Freedom and Peace have been won, the Gates will close.
We have yet much work to do. I would that the Gates may close in my lifetime, but I would not that they close for lack of commitment or courage.
As most vets do, I think upon those I once knew on this day. The names we forget over the years, and the faces become blurred with time. It is the experience we shared that stays with us. The good times that still make us smile, and the other times - the ones that wake us up a night chilled by our own sweat - the hard times that tested us and forever bonded us together.
Sometimes, we think about ourselves on this day. How the experience changed us. And how to explain what it was, what it remains to be, to be one who has served.
But, it shames us to dwell too much upon ourselves on this day. This day is not about the living.
This day is about those who did not come home. The ones who did not get to raise their children, or see their parents for Thanksgiving dinner.
This day is for the fallen.
The bond we share makes this day special to us. But, no, this day is not about us.
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