A Grateful Nation

There was such a huge response to my July 4th entry I decided to expand briefly upon that theme, especially since I came up with another poem I wish to share. I began writing this poem on Memorial Day, but it never came to fruition. However, I became re-inspired on July 4th and it finally came together. I have had several military friends serving in the Middle East in recent years and have seen first hand the price they paid personally in order serve our country in that way. Regardless of how you may feel about the war, the politics or our national leadership, I charge each American to extend the respect and gratitude our men and women in arms deserve. They are doing their job and their duty, often at great personal cost and inconvenience to themselves and their loved ones. They do so just as our fathers and grandfathers did when they responded to duty’s call in the great wars of the past. And as before, they are fighting not so much to defend our current borders, but the ideals which those borders represent. It must be noted as well that our soldiers have fought and bled and died on foreign soil time and again, while we have never asked for any more new territory than that required to burry our dead.

On Memorial Day we remember those you have made the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation. On July 4th we celebrate the birth of our nation and the founding principles which make it so great. On all the days in between, however, may we continue to remember those who guard our beloved freedom and champion the rights others who deserve those selfsame freedoms. May all those who proudly wear the uniforms of the United States military, who are our heroes, instruments and emissaries, receive the respect they deserve and ever feel the earnest appreciation of a grateful nation.

A Grateful Nation
How little do I understand
Here, so safe and far away
The sacrifices you have made
And the meaning of this day
Never have I risked my life
Or known the kind of loss
Real heroes or their families know
Who pay for freedom’s cost
So here I pause, as each should
To offer up my heartfelt thanks
For those who fought so bravely
And marched in freedom’s ranks
From Lexington and Concord
To Kabul and Baghdad too
You stood for truth and justice
To see your missions through
And the very least you should expect
That you most certainly deserve
Is the gratitude of your nation
And those you so bravely serve
By Frank Carpenter ©