SPEEDCRAVER
Expert Class
Posts: 183
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posted December 11, 2001 08:40 AM
Christmas 2001 for guy's like silver01bullit
Night Before Christmas 2001
> >
> > 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
> > IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.
> >
> > I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
> > AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.
> >
> > I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
> > NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.
> >
> > NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
> > AND ON THE WALL PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
> >
> > WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
> > A SOBERING THOUGHT CAME TO MY MIND.
> >
> > FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, SO DARK AND SO DREARY, THE HOME OF A
> > SOLDIER,
> > NOW I COULD SEE CLEARLY.
> >
> > THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE,
> > CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
> >
> > THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
> > NOT HOW I PICTURED A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.
> >
> > WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
> > CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
> >
> > I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
> > OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.
> >
> > SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
> > AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
> >
> > THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
> > BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
> >
> > I COULDN'T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
> > ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
> >
> > THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
> > I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY.
> >
> > THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE, "SANTA DON'T CRY,
> > THIS
> > LIFE
> > IS MY CHOICE; I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE, MY LIFE IS
> > MY
> > GOD,
> > MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."
> >
> > THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND SOON DRIFTED TO SLEEP, I COULDN'T
> > CONTROL
> > IT,
> > I
> > CONTINUED TO WEEP.
> >
> > I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL,
> > AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD EVENING'S CHILL.
> >
> > I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK NIGHT,
> > THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
> >
> > THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE, WHISPERED,
> > "CARRY
> > ON SANTA, IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."
> >
> > ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
> > "MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."
> >
> >
> > This poem was written by a Marine stationed in Okinawa Japan. The
> > following
> >
> > is his request. I think it is reasonable.......
> > Please....... Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as
> > many
> > people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is
> > due
> > to
> > our U.S. servicemen and women for our being able to celebrate these
> > festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what
> > we
> > owe.
> > Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who
> > sacrificed
> > themselves for us. Please, do your small
> > part to plant this small seed.
>
>
>
____________
I keep all of my guns loaded, to many people die from unloaded guns.
  
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silver01bullit
Expert Class
on here too much
Posts: 333
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posted December 11, 2001 12:08 PM
Thanks Speedcraver
hoping I get to go, waiting for word on the medical records now
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redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted December 11, 2001 05:43 PM
I read this and... I cried.
I was lucky. I was too young to go to Viet Nam. I do remember seeing the lists of the KIA and MIA on the local nightly news. I remember the days when a classmate would not show up at school. Their father had been killed or was missing. Some would come back to school. Some never came back.
By the time I was old enough to register for the draft... there was no draft. When they reinstated the draft, I was already too old.
I copied the post to Notepad, so I could edit out all the little arrows. Though I had already read it a few times, my eyes would still well up. I have never served our country in the armed forces. Still, I have and will always remember why I've had that luxury. A luxury that is enjoyed by so few on this planet.
My father was Airborne in France and Germany during WWII. He, as the thousands of other men and women who have served our country, have seen the unimaginable horrors that man can cause. Things that even with the most vivid of descriptions and detiled of photographs, I will never be able to understand or comprehend.
My ignorance of this is a blessing. A blessing that was paid for with the blood of those that have served. Even when this horror arrived at our doorstep on 9/11, most of us still continue to enjoy that blessing. We get to go to motorcycle shows with all their glitz and glamour. We still call our dealers and complain about the lastest trick part that hasn't arrived. We still tell our children to clean up their rooms.
As we prepare to light the forth candle of our menorah during this Chanukkah, as we fast during this month of Ramadan or as we prepare to celibrate the birth of Jesus Christ... there is only one reason why we can do any of these things. That reason is because of those that say...
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE.
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE.
MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.
May your God bless all of you with the bounty of spiritual wealth that he can bestow upon each and everyone of us and let us never forget those that has made the life that all of us enjoy, but so often take for granted, possible.
Please, while you give thanks in your prayers this holiday season, remember to include those that will be unable to share it with their loved ones. They do this so you can.
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Big_Zx12r
Expert Class
Posts: 180
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posted December 11, 2001 10:35 PM
That just shows how much that E-mail went around...I just got that same E-mail a week ago! I sure sent it around, the least I could do!
-Big Zx12r
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