Monday, March 24, 2008

Painful contrast...

Today we passed a painful mark in the war on terror. Over 4,000 of our nation's finest young men and women have now been killed while serving in Irag and in Afghanistan.

I remember hanging a list in my classroom as the first 19 and then the first 150 were killed. I remember telling those students that the day would come when the list would be too long to hang and when the names would start to blur and just like during the Vietnam war we would find ourselves becoming somewhat numbed to the daily reports.

I believe in the war we are fighting, I personally know one young Marine who is now a quadriplegic because of his valor, but I cannot help but wonder if any of those students from 2003 remember my words? And does that really matter?

By way of contrast I remember during high school as more and more young men from our town went to Vietnam and how sad we were when word reached us that friends were being drafted and sadder still when some did not come home. And then the day came when my boyfriend was drafted. That notice altered the forever in our after.

I suppose what matters most is that there are still young people in our country who are willing to sacrifice for our nation! We pray for those young people and their families. We pray for those families who have lost a loved one!

May God bless America!

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