“They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this nation.” – Henry Ward Beecher
The total number of Americans killed in all U.S. wars is more than 1.1 million.
Over time, we have become disconnected from understanding the true costs of conflict – who has served, what they’ve experienced and what is going on in our world.
My father served in the Army and missed a Vietnam assignment by couple of weeks. Thankfully, he was lucky enough to come home safe and secure after his time overseas.
Unfortunately, many of our veterans come home wounded, physically and emotionally and are often quickly forgotten about.
Outside of the constant low rumbling in the media set as a background noise we can’t fully escape, most of us are far removed from the global war on terror and conflict between countries.
Our numbing out is not difficult to understand. It’s often a side effect from constant exposure to negative situations that seem to never end.
But on this day, let us connect in with the brave Souls who have stepped forward to defend our freedoms so that we can live the expressed and abundant lives that we do.
In their honor, I want to share a beautiful writing by Kahlil Gibran ‘On Death’.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling? For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.