Thursday, September 17, 2009

Stops at the Service Station

Day 25**Service and Sacrifice

This morning I was watching a You Tube video of the combined Military Academy Choirs singing the national anthem. I had to run for the tissue box. It was very appropriate and meaningful for them to sing about the flag, and freedom, and sacrifice. They sang with simplicity and true hearts. For them it was all about the song and its meaning. It took my breath away.

I'm very sentimental about these young men and women who love America with such passion that they're willing to put their lives on the line. They serve with honor in the most dangerous places on earth. They serve with dignity and compassion. Yes, compassion. You and I have seen the pictures of tough American soldiers interacting with village children or cradling a wounded infant in their arms. And no, those pictures aren't staged.

Interesting that we call it military service. "What branch of the service are you in?" Isn't that how we ask a military patriot if they're Army, Air Force, Navy, or Marine? And they answer, "I serve in the Navy."

Service is love, and the greatest love is manifest by those who would lay down their life for a friend. It's a principle those young service men and women, who sang the national anthem with such commitment, understand with perfect clarity.

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