I don’t know your name. I don’t know your family or the place you call home. I haven’t witnessed your special talents, nor enjoyed your sense of humor. I don’t know your aspirations, your dreams, your fears. I don’t know what life is like for you… far from your family, friends and your country. But I do know that you’re making a tremendous sacrifice.
I wonder what inspired you to serve our country. I wonder if you thought about it as a child. I wonder if you signed your name boldly or if you’ve ever felt regret. I wonder how you feel when you hear fellow American’s criticize the war and your role in it. Nobody likes war. Not even our President. And I’m quite sure you feel the same way.
I think about you often, and always do when I travel by air. I see you in the airport. I watch you go through extensive effort to untie your bootlaces before sending them through the security conveyer belt. I see you hauling your heavy backpack and sleeping in your coach seat. I wonder what your hair was like before you had to shave it off. I wonder why the pilot doesn’t recognize your name over the loud speaker as he did months before. I wonder if you’re coming home or going away. I feel an urge to talk to you, but the lump in my throat and an overwhelming sense of gratitude paralyzes me. What I want to say is…
Thank You
Thank you for being brave. Thank you for cherishing freedom. Thank you for volunteering to put our country before your personal needs and desires. Thank you for protecting me… and the people I love.
I picked a dandelion for my young son the other day, the day I returned from the airport. Putting the perfectly plump dandelion to his lips, I asked him to, “Make a wish!” With that, he closed his eyes for a moment, then looked up at me and said, “I wish I could be a soldier with our troops.”
My wish for you and the people around you… peace.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Roberts
* * *
Please share this with American soldiers you know and love.
Click can direct people to the permanent link to this post: http://coolpeopleiknow.blogspot.com/2007/03/dear-american-soldier.html
Technorati Tags: thank you letter, support our troops, american soldiers, war, peace
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Dear American Soldier
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6 comments:
Dearest friend, THANK YOU for focusing us on this gaping, often gangrenous wound in our collective human soul.
As a citizen of two democracies, the USA and Israel, I don’t know anyone serving in the USA military today yet I do know and love my large Israeli family and many friends serving in Israel’s army. Unlike in the USA, with a volunteer army, Israel has a citizen army, where all are conscripted, male and female — with exceptions due to health, religious observance, national security, or other extenuating reason. So I have known many Israelis (who, if male, serve in the reserves until nearly age 50) well, even before they become soldiers and, I pray, I will continue to know them alive and healthy after completing their tours of duty.
I often speak with my beloved Israeli cousin’s 20-year-old paratrooper son Aviah, and I ask him endlessly your question, “I wonder how you feel when you hear fellow[s…] criticize […] war and your role in it.” (Recall that you, Stephanie, were among my gentle comforters last summer when another beloved cousin’s son — 23-year-old tank reservist Noam, of blessed memory, was killed in Lebanon when he was planning his wedding day that became the 30-day marker of his death.)
When I spot soldiers in USA uniform at airports and on planes I intentionally speak with them because it is what I would want if our roles, uniforms, haircuts, and levels of comfort and security or danger were reversed. And I ask your questions— name, family, home, dreams, and responses to criticism by fellow citizens on the war they are fighting. It is easy for me to speak with them because I know soldiers, my Israeli family and friends, and I almost automatically see all nations' soldiers as somebody’s son, husband, father, cousin, friend, classmate, neighbor, or ally.
And I have come to see most soldiers as children serving for many reasons and almost always at the behest of old men. And I always weep inside, often out loud, and like you, feel a lump in my throat and an almost paralyzing sadness, and sometimes I feel gratitude.
During this season of birth, rebirth, freedom, and hope — for Jews celebrating Passover and for Christians, Easter, may we and all peoples dig deep within ourselves to find understanding and empathy so that we shun any intolerance of any “other” and remember that no matter our exterior or circumstance, we are the same. And to always pursue justice and peace.
Thank you for this, Stephanie. I feel like a dandelion kissed with the grace of your compassion and love and gratitude.
tamar and sage - Thank you for taking the time to read it. I appreciate your comments so much.
This is beautiful.
SO cool. Got this forwarded from Stephanie Butler. My husband is in the National Guard. I'm an author working on my 2nd book--a guidebook for National Guard soldiers. Would love to include this letter if I can find the right place for it. Let me know your thoughts.
As the wife of a National Guard soldier who has served in Iraq and the mother of a National Guard soldier soon to leave home for Basic Training... I was extremely touched by your letter... I have printed it out and saved it to my computer as well and plan on sharing it with others...
Thank you so much for your caring thoughts...
Alicia P.
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