In honor of Memorial Day, I thought I’d repost this post from Jan of 09 in which my son first learned of the ultimate sacrifice many of our soldiers make for our country. As we were discussing what Memorial Day was this week, my son asked what we were going to do to celebrate. “So, are we going to the memorial in Annapolis then?” I realized that sadly, Memorial Day typically comes and goes without much thought at all to why we have the day off. It seems to mark the beginning of summer and swim season and white shoes, but all to often we forget to pause and reflect on the reason for the holiday. May you take time today to give thanks for the soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf and for those who are fighting today willing to pay that sacrifice should it be required.
A Deeper Understanding
JANUARY 24, 2009[edit]
Last week in church the pastor gave an illustration in which he mentioned the number of American lives lost during various wars in our history. My son looked over at me and asked why he was talking about American soldiers getting killed.
This led to a discussion later in the week in which it was brought to my attention that my son was under the impression that good guys don’t die in war. It was a sobering discussion I had with my four year old that afternoon that went something like this…
Son: Mom, why did the good guys die? I thought they killed the bad guys.
Me: Well, sometimes they do, but sometimes the bad guys kill them first. The bad guys are trying to get them just like they are trying to get the bad guys.
Son: But Mom, they have camouflage so the bad guys can’t see them
Me: True, and that helps a lot, but sometimes the good guys still get hurt. That’s why they are heroes…not just because they hurt the bad guys, but because by doing so they are risking their own lives. That is part of war…good guys and bad guys die.
Son: But Uncle Jim didn’t die.
Me: Yes, and we are so thankful for that, but that is why we were praying for Uncle Jim when he was at war, because we wanted God to protect him.
Son: But Uncle Jim isn’t at war right now…he’s training right now to be a captain.
Much later that night when we were saying our bedtime prayers my son prayed, “please keep Uncle Jim safe.”
I found this whole incident to be quite sobering. We have stressed over and over through the years that soldiers, and policemen, and firemen are true heroes and deserve honor and our gratitude. I guess though we never stressed why they are heroes. And in the sweet innocence of childhood, my son assumed that only bad guys get hurt. Yet we live in a world where that is not the case.
And as this truth sunk in to my little boy, his response was to pray for the Lord to protect his dear Uncle Jim who serves as a soldier in our U.S. Army.
This served as a good reminder to me to continue to life up our soldiers in prayer. While Uncle Jim is home in Texas right now, we are praying for our cousin Joel who is at war fighting for our freedom. We are proud to have both soldiers as part of our family, modeling heroism for our children.
Since the original posting of this blog post, Uncle Jim has since gone back for a second tour of duty in Iraq and cousin Joel has safely returned from Afghanistan.
maybe i should be embarrassed that this makes me tear up a bit. thank you so much for understanding and loving our family. and thank that little guy for me for his grasp of things others don't take the time to think about. see you soon. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved this the first time, and it's perfect to read again today!
ReplyDeleteAppreciating our military men and women hits very close to home for me, but even that aside, any time young children have to deal with understanding the effects of a fallen world, I always get choked up... so you hit me twice today : ) You and Scott do such a good job of helping your kids understand the real world.
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