Today in church the pastor asked a young man and his wife to come up to the front of the church. The wife carried their young baby in her arms. The pastor put his arms around them and announced that the young man, whose name is Jimmy, would be leaving this week for basic training. He enlisted in the Army.
I think of Jimmy as one of my kids, because back when he was in high school I was his Sunday School teacher. Jimmy is the fourth of my kids to enlist and go off to war, and every one of them has been announced in church and every one of them has made eye contact with me as if my opinion of their decision mattered. I make a point, every time, of seeking them out and thanking them, but my heart is less and less in it.
Every one of these kids shares two traits: each wants badly to contribute, and each was having a hard time in the civilian world finding his right path. So it is the military that welcomes them and trains them and gives them a sense of mission. They stand in front of the church and we applaud, and they get hugs and handshakes. When basic training is over they come home in their dress uniforms and they are something to see: tall and confident and clear-eyed. And then we send them off.
Four of my kids, kids I met when they were 12 years old. One has been to Afghanistan and is back safely with a newborn child; two are overseas now with families left behind, worrying; Jimmy is on his way to basic.
I'm achingly proud of these young men. They're braver and more sacrificing than I'll ever be. But when I'm done shaking their hands and wishing them well, I pray that we're not squandering their willingness to sacrifice. I pray that we're taking very seriously what they're risking, and that we're asking them to do it for the right reasons and that we're not going to put them in jeopardy one minute longer than is absolutely necessary.
In sending young men and women off to war, that's our duty: to make sure we don't waste their willingness to sacrifice. As I wish Jimmy well and promise myself that I'll stay an attentive part of the community that's going to look after his wife and baby, I pray that we're not letting national vanity get in the way of protecting our best young men and women, protecting them even as they go off to protect us.
I appreciate this expression of patriotism. These acts of our young men (and women)come at least in part from deep feelings of love for our country. I wish Jimmy and his young family the best.
Posted by: Tom Brandt | 11/02/2008 at 08:10 PM