The Month of the Soldier: How Are You Going to Honor the Fallen?
Posted: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
by Jeff Brown
Inner Projection
This is the month of independence, freedom, sacrifice, the hope and inspiration of the human spirit. To get a feel for its diversity, its importance, here is a list of holidays and observances for this Month of the Soldier.
1: Loyalty Day, 1: National Day of Prayer, 1: Law Day, 2: Yom HaShoah (Jewish: Observance of The Holocaust), 3: World Press Freedom Day, 4: Rhode Island Independence Day (RI), 5: Cinco de Mayo, 8: Yom HaAtzmaut (Jewish: Israeli Independence Day), 9: 'Confederate Memorial Day' observed (SC), 10: Confederate Memorial Day (NC), 10: Confederate Memorial Day (SC),15: Peace Officers Memorial Day, 21:World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, 22: International Day for Biological Diversity, 22: Corpus Christi (Christian), 26: Memorial Day
It is a month that speaks to the immigrant who comes here from oppressed countries: economic and political. It speaks to those 50% who make less than $3 a day. It speaks to the 90% who do not have the bare minimum Americans so readily enjoy: one car, one apartment. It speaks to the 94% who make less than the 6% who live in the United States of America. It speaks to the Jew, the Muslim, the Christian, the Buddhist, the Armenian, the Italian, the Colombian, the Sudanese, the Navajo, the woman, the child, the man.
But what of the soldier who has laid down his and her life? Have we honored them? How do we do so?
According to Norman Douglas, he tells us, "You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertising."
How do we honor those who fought hard in The American Revolution, The Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq . . . disregarding politics?
Do we honor them with mere self-indulgence? Ignorance? Arrogance?
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." John Adams
Do we honor our dead for just one day? A day in which we endulge in games, sport, activities, hamburgers, hotdogs and beer with little thought as to the many who have died, sacrificed, overcame fear to provide for us this day?
Do we take a moment and pray? Give a prayer of thanks? A message sent to their resting place for them to have and hold to enhance their rest to enhance their peace.
What are you going to do this Month of Months? This month of the foot soldier.
Put your heart in prison for a moment to feel their sacrifice. Imagine the bullet before it cuts you down--your children, your wife, your world, a life. Imagine abject fear of chaos, screams of agony, torment in your ears as your brothers die miraculously slow deaths of torment all around you, all day, day after day after day after day. The horror.
Do you feel it?
If so, that is your Memorial Moment.
Feel it for them . . . just a moment taken from your peace and prosperity . . . your comfort.
Just a moment.
Feel it for them.
They who gave it all for your peace and prosperity.
What are you doing this Month of the Soldier?
Month of the Soldier Quotes:
"Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have."--Harry Emerson Fosdick
"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."--Edward Abbey
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official..."--Theodore Roosevelt
"Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution. We, the American people, we are the solution."--President Clinton
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it."--Thomas Jefferson
"Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor."--Theodore Roosevelt
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt
The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life."--Theodore Roosevelt
"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."--Martin Luther King Jr.
"We look forward to the time when the power to love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace."--William E(dwart) Gladstone
"No government can be long secure without a formidable opposition."--Benjamin Disraeli
"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."--Edward Abbey
"Politics, very often, is simply economics pursued by other means."--Edward J. Nell
"You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertising."--Norman Douglas
"A government which takes from Peter to pay Paul will always have the support of Paul."--George Bernard Shaw
"So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?"--Ayn Rand
"I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American."--Daniel Webster
"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."--Elmer Davis
"Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate."--Hubert H. Humphrey
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."--Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."--Gandhi
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."--Martin Luther King, Jr.
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."--Martin Luther King Jr.
"Let JUSTICE be done though the heavens fall."--Roman maxim
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."--Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."--Martin Luther King Jr.
"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."--Abraham Lincoln
"The true charter of liberty is independence, maintained by force."--Voltaire
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."--George Orwell
"We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary."--Malcolm X
"We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it."--Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Freedom is rarely lost in a single stroke. The danger lies in losing it bit by bit."--Dennis Patrick
"All censorships exist to prevent any one from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships."--George Bernard Shaw
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."--Voltaire
"Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed."--Charles Colton
I support the soldier on the front lines and the soldier behind the scenes-Pray for their sanity, their safety and their soul. I thank them; past and present for my freedom. Their pain and sacrifice made way and continues to hold a great place in my heart. And I honor them everyday. I will not hold a sign that says anything accept I love you and I thank you! Period. Thanks Jeff, for this wonderful article--it's a real eye opener. God bless you! TeresaTeresa, Thanks for responding. For some reason, I have often felt the horror of the soldier held close within my soul. On occassion, their darkness and pain surrounds me. God bless.
