Harder Than You Expect
It's harder than you expect it to be, having a loved one in Iraq. The worrying. It's in the back of your mind every waking moment. And at night it spills over into your dreams and a restful nights sleep is something you only vaguely remember. A peaceful night seems so long ago and so far away.
The situation you and your family are in can bring you closer together but also has the potential to tear you apart. Little things that bothered you and you bore without complaint now cause discomfort and anger. Maybe it's the lack of sleep, or the stress of having someone you love in harms way each and every minute, of each and every day. But whatever it is it can cause you to lash out when you normally wouldn't, to say things that you normally couldn't. Those around you have trouble understanding your emotions and you'd have trouble explaining.
But through it all you put on the best face you can and go about your day. But sometimes simple things, seemingly unimportant things, bring your emotions to the surface. Seeing a father fishing with his son, watching a mother push her child in a swing, these things trigger an emotional response which more often than not brings a tear to your eye just as quickly as it brings a smile to your face. There are songs on the radio you can't listen to and some movies you can't bear to watch. And even laughing sometimes leaves you feeling guilty.
The Star Spangled Banner and the Pledge of Allegiance also bring about a new emotion. You feel a pride you've never felt before when you hear those words. It affects you like never before. You get a lump in your throat. And you are painfully aware of the lack of respect you see for the flag of our great nation. People who take the hard won liberties and freedoms they possess for granted. Our flag is not simply colored cloth any more. It's pain and suffering. It's blood and sacrifice. The flag is held together by those threads. The threads that hold us all together as the greatest nation on Earth.
You realize that when you place your hand on your heart in front of Old Glory you do it not to honor the flag or the nation but to honor those who have sacrificed, suffered and died to keep us free. And until you come to that realization you can't possibly know the depth of our worry.
The situation you and your family are in can bring you closer together but also has the potential to tear you apart. Little things that bothered you and you bore without complaint now cause discomfort and anger. Maybe it's the lack of sleep, or the stress of having someone you love in harms way each and every minute, of each and every day. But whatever it is it can cause you to lash out when you normally wouldn't, to say things that you normally couldn't. Those around you have trouble understanding your emotions and you'd have trouble explaining.
But through it all you put on the best face you can and go about your day. But sometimes simple things, seemingly unimportant things, bring your emotions to the surface. Seeing a father fishing with his son, watching a mother push her child in a swing, these things trigger an emotional response which more often than not brings a tear to your eye just as quickly as it brings a smile to your face. There are songs on the radio you can't listen to and some movies you can't bear to watch. And even laughing sometimes leaves you feeling guilty.
The Star Spangled Banner and the Pledge of Allegiance also bring about a new emotion. You feel a pride you've never felt before when you hear those words. It affects you like never before. You get a lump in your throat. And you are painfully aware of the lack of respect you see for the flag of our great nation. People who take the hard won liberties and freedoms they possess for granted. Our flag is not simply colored cloth any more. It's pain and suffering. It's blood and sacrifice. The flag is held together by those threads. The threads that hold us all together as the greatest nation on Earth.
You realize that when you place your hand on your heart in front of Old Glory you do it not to honor the flag or the nation but to honor those who have sacrificed, suffered and died to keep us free. And until you come to that realization you can't possibly know the depth of our worry.
posted by deesci | 12:39 PM
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