Hm and I missed it the first time around
2003-Feb-25, Tuesday 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ssurgulDunno how, but here it is. Many thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lionman for this. He posted this on 1/5, and I wanted to repost it now, because it speaks to me, and because I find it interesting that we lose sight of that which is taken for granted so easily. We forget the sacrifice of others that makes possible what we do have, and what we are gifted with.
I want you to close your eyes and picture in your mind the soldier at Valley Forge, as he holds his musket in his bloody hands. He stands barefoot in the snow, starved from lack of food, wounded from months of battle and emotionally scarred from the eternity away from his family surrounded by nothing but death and carnage of war. He stands tough, with fire in his eyes and victory on his breath. He looks at us now in anger and disgust and tells us this...
"I gave you a birthright of freedom born in the Constitution and now your children graduate too illiterate to read it.
"I fought in the snow barefoot to give you the freedom to vote and you stay at home because it rains.
"I left my family destitute to give you the freedom of speech and you remain silent on critical issues, because it might be bad for business.
"I orphaned my children to give you a government to serve you and it has stolen democracy from the people.
"It's the soldier not the reporter who gives you the freedom of the press.
"It's the soldier not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech.
"It's the soldier not the campus organizer who allows you to demonstrate.
"It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!"
Please, stop for a moment, and be thoughtful for our troops that are deployed, or soon will be. Pray for them, if that's in your heart as well.
Remember... life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away!
lionman for this. He posted this on 1/5, and I wanted to repost it now, because it speaks to me, and because I find it interesting that we lose sight of that which is taken for granted so easily. We forget the sacrifice of others that makes possible what we do have, and what we are gifted with.I want you to close your eyes and picture in your mind the soldier at Valley Forge, as he holds his musket in his bloody hands. He stands barefoot in the snow, starved from lack of food, wounded from months of battle and emotionally scarred from the eternity away from his family surrounded by nothing but death and carnage of war. He stands tough, with fire in his eyes and victory on his breath. He looks at us now in anger and disgust and tells us this...
"I gave you a birthright of freedom born in the Constitution and now your children graduate too illiterate to read it.
"I fought in the snow barefoot to give you the freedom to vote and you stay at home because it rains.
"I left my family destitute to give you the freedom of speech and you remain silent on critical issues, because it might be bad for business.
"I orphaned my children to give you a government to serve you and it has stolen democracy from the people.
"It's the soldier not the reporter who gives you the freedom of the press.
"It's the soldier not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech.
"It's the soldier not the campus organizer who allows you to demonstrate.
"It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!"
Please, stop for a moment, and be thoughtful for our troops that are deployed, or soon will be. Pray for them, if that's in your heart as well.
Remember... life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away!