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I do not take Credit for this poetry but I do want to share it.
The Soldier stood and faced his god, which must always come to pass. He hoped his shoes were shining just as brightly as his brass.
Step forward now, you soldier, How shall I deal with you, Have you always turned the other cheek, to my church have you been true?
The soldier squared his shoulders and said “No lord I guess I ain't because those of us who carry guns can't always be a saint. I've had to work most Sundays and at times my talk was tough, because this world is awfully rough. But I never took a penny that wasn’t mine to keep Though I worked allot of overtime when the bills just got too steep. And I never passed a cry for help though at times I shook with fear. And sometimes God forgive me I’ve wept unmanly tears, I know I don’t deserve a place among the people here. They never wanted me around except to calm their fears, if you’ve a place for me lord it needn’t be so grand I never expected or had too much, But if you don’t I’ll understand.
There was a silence all around the throne where saints had often trod and the soldier waited quietly for the judgment of his god. Step forward now you soldier you’ve born your burden well, Walk peacefully on heaven’s streets you’ve done your time in Hell.
Comments
I remember after the Vietnam War...
...the words "I know I'm going to Heaven 'cause I spent my time in Hell" appeared on t-shirts and such. The sad thing is that so many of our veterans have spent more time in hell 'State-side' due to neglect and, in some cases, downright abuse. It's sad. I saw a poster on Facebook that mused that we pay more money to men in helmets that protect a football than we do for men and women who wear helmets while protecting our country. Thank you for another reminder of how fortunate and blessed I am to be safe and secure because of the sacrifice of our Veterans.
Love, Andrea Lena
football vs war
"mused that we pay more money to men in helmets that protect a football than we do for men and women who wear helmets while protecting our country"
And that's just one example of many on just how much this country has its priorities messed up...
Honestly, I probably don't pay as much respect to Veteran's as I should either, but it's less because of them or even what they do than about WHAT they do... As in, I generally don't agree with most any of the conflicts we get involved with. I think war should be the absolute last resort for direct personal defense only. Most conflicts we're involved in are conflicts we only became involved in because we involved ourselves in them. Our politicos have turned our military into the world's police, and it's too depressing to think about that for me. Especially since we're perhaps the LAST country out of the civilized world to have ANY right to tell other countries what it means to be civilized. Frankly, we ain't got a clue!
Abigail Drew.
I know the feeling
Sis, I know the feeling. While serving we get the call and we go, there is no questioning the validity of the orders. Some of those orders are really screwed in the logic department, and some of them are so far fetched they might as well be space cases. However Orders are Orders and those of us that choose to protect what we believe in sometime have to follow really crappy orders for reasons that are not clear at the time.
We pay more money for men to beat the snot out of each other just to get a ball down the field, than we pay those who protect us. Police, Firefighters, EMT's, get shafted.
The answers to all of life's questions can be found in the face of a true friend
Final Inspection is a most
Final Inspection is a most excellent poem for Veteran's Day. Please post this as a story so that we can give you oodles of kudos.
May Your Light Forever Shine
Final Inspection
This poem is not mine to receive the Kudos for, I was honoring a fellow Veteran when I posted this.
The answers to all of life's questions can be found in the face of a true friend