It is the Soldier
by Fr. Dennis Edward O'Brien
"It is the Soldier,not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of press.
"It is the Soldier,
not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.
"It is the Soldier,
not the campus organizer,
who gives us freedom to demonstrate.
"It is the Soldier,
who salutes the flag,
who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag."
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Today we honor the veterans who were called to protect us and did.
During the Viet Nam War, my office was in the same building as the local draft board. When boys were drafted into the service, they would gather at our building awaiting the bus that would pick them up to take them away to boot camp. Guys that I knew stopped by my office to say good-bye. I cried lots of tears over them leaving. I said many prayers thanking my Creator for making me a girl.
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It didn't take any coaxing yesterday for us to gather our fishing poles and head toward a lake. For November 10th, the weather was just gorgeous. Who can resist being out and about on a day with sweatshirt temperatures, warming sunshine and a cooling breeze. We stopped to buy some night crawlers, and the store owner took his merry old time in the back room boxing up one dozen. When we got to the lake and opened the box, the crawlers couldn't crawl. Oh, well, we situated ourselves, put our lines in the water, visited about the pretty scenery surrounding us, and after an hour flew by neither of us had a nibble. The fuzzy one was stretched out in the sunshine beside us, so we exercised our patience awhile longer. Then finally decided the fish weren't hungry and left.
We dilly-dallied our way through a forest along a trout stream, and took some cool pictures of trees. Both of us are enamored by trees. Just like humans, every tree has its unique size and shape and flaws. But, put all the trees together, and they create a covered canvas of exquisite outdoor grandeur.
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| Tree Trinity |
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| I'm old, but notice I can still provide a cozy home for Nature's wee ones! |
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| Looking Upstream |
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| Rock Wall |
Today's Trivia: Legend tells us a long time ago women were allowed to live on Navy ships to keep company for sailor husbands and friends who had to stay for several months at sea without being in battle. On occasion, a woman delivered a baby whose paternity could not be established with certainty. On the birth certificate, authorities just noted "Son of a Gun," referring to the artillery found on the ships. This has evolved into the common expression we use today.