The Essay

I Forgot I was going to do this yesterday. This week has been filled with cleaning & painting, and now trying to get things back in order before the kids come home tomorrow, but next week I need to put my "vacation" :) pictures up, so I'd better get this done today!
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, this post follows Thursdays post below)

"Why America's Veterans Should Be Honored"

Veteran: One grown old in experience, especially in military life. Honoring: Held in high regard or respect.
However in reality, veterans and honoring is more than those black and white definitions. Why our veterans should be honored is not a question we should have to ponder on too excessively.

It has been said "Freedom is never free." Men and women in uniform have proudly stood for our country, only to be knocked down again. They've experienced what it's like to be captured and tortured to the point of insanity. We know this because of the pain that never ceases to haunt their eyes. It's a pain that's still healing. Our veterans have been driven against resistance to continue in battle as their comrades were agonizingly engulfed by death in various forms. They feel the suffering, the anguish, when in a matter of seconds a soldier that endured so many traumas already is reduced to nothingness. Those of us that aren't fighting may think; "Oh, it's just another pile of ashes to sweep up." The veterans paid the price for our freedom by placing their lives on the line. To be willing to sacrifice themselves when we are not.

Dick Cheney said that, "It is easy to take liberty for granted when you haven't had it taken from you." We haven't had our freedoms stripped and taken from us like some unfortunate victims in other countries, unable to speak or walk freely. Many of our veterans have gone through that tragic period, when their liberty was torn apart, catapulted to the ground and shattered, leaving only minuscule fragments, as if it never existed in the first place.

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." (Jose' Narosky) It doesn't matter how long those veterans live, they will never forget the trial and tribulations, where horror and fear were every day acquaintances. It's the pain that binds them together. We are not the ones that made a commitment to defend this country whether it meant standing steadfast and strong when bombs pelt from the sky like raindrops, or not. Our veterans have fought, and continue to fight for this beloved country; for us, to keep it from crumbling, to keep our hearts beating as one. The least we can do is honor them, to respect and to pray for them. To help them conquer the difficulties caused by the struggles for our homeland's freedom.

*Meshayla J.
age 14/8th grade
October, 2008