Memorial Day Prayer for Peace

byDreamer56

2.8K followers

10 years ago

In the U.S. this is the weekend we remember those that have fallen fighting for our freedom. Other countries around the world honor their fallen troops also. It is not on the same day or maybe not even in the same way but the fallen are remembered.

We would be hard-pressed to find anyone today that has not been touched by conflicts past or present.

I was given pause to think as I was writing this about our WA community. We have members from all around the world. Different philosophies, different cultures different ideas, yet we come together ready and eager to lend a helping hand.

I know it sounds simplistic but if we can come together working toward a common goal here why can this not be applied outside our community. Possibly because our virtual world we enjoy here can not work in the "real" world. I don't have an answer I sincerely wish I did.

My son is in the Navy thankfully at this time he is not in harms way. This hasn't been the case in the past. He shared this poem with me and I would like to share it with you all.

Even tho this poem was probably written with U.S. troops in mind it transcends to all cultures and Countries.

Freedom Is Not Free

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

- Kelly Strong

As we take time this weekend to remember our fallen troops that gave their all to afford us the opportunity to pursue our dreams, let us also say a Prayer for Peace. Perhaps some day soon we will be able to honor life instead of death on Memorial Day.

Until next time,