All their tomorrows
While you read this post, please listen to Taps, played by Doug Hammer.We owe it to the last of the few to make their sacrifice worth it.
The hours in our days are never enough for the demands of our fiat world. I would ask that you take five minutes, silence the unending distractions, play the song linked above, and read the following in memory of those who gave all their tomorrows for our todays.
Picture your closest friends, the ones who are there in the bad times, when others don’t pick up the phone. The ones who know the real you. The ones who you would move mountains for. Picture how close you would be if you spent most every hour of most every day with them for years. Now picture the worst, most horrifying moments you have ever had in your life, a violent car crash, a bad injury, the death of a loved one, being assaulted, go to that fear, feel that sorrow, stay there in that place for a few minutes. Now bring that fear with you to this scene. You are in a hurriedly dug hole, and you are pressing your body as low as you can into the mud as the loudest noises you have ever heard shake the earth around you. A whistle blows in the distance, as you look around, a bullet rips past your ear, and you begin to check on your closest friends, your battle buddies. Frank is gone, slumped over, head next to his knees, face in the dirt, your heart drops. Mike it hit badly, Steve doesn’t think he is going to make it. Martin is screaming as he shoots into the dust and shadows, his jacket is covered in blood, is he ok?.. the thought is interrupted by your own cough, you spit blood, but you choke it down and reach for the medical supplies to start helping your friends, your brothers. As you pull the tourniquet tight on Mike’s leg, you frantically look over your shoulder where all the shooting is coming from, where are they?! The bone is showing, but you think the bleeding has stopped. Footsteps, shouting, a flash of light. That whistle, you should have known, they are coming. Martin isn’t shooting anymore; he is trying to hand you a letter. Steve is trying to stand, shouting with a rage you have never seen. Mike has his pistol out. And then, it’s over, out of the smoke they storm, faceless gas-masks, too many. Mike downs a few and dies shooting, Steve rises up, swinging his rifle like an axe, he goes down just as fast, you realize you are leaned over, your life slipping away, your blood pools, you look around, they are all gone… the masks run by, your head is heavy, your heart is dead. Mike is still holding his pistol, Steve’s massive presence still looms, his eyes blankly stare to the heavens, and as you shut your eyes for the last time, you are a kid again, flashes of mom and dad, smiles filled with love, laughter, and good times, but it all ends, it ends in blood and mud. No one will tell this story, your story… Frank, Martin, Steve, and Mike’s story. No one will tell many like them. Their happy ever after is your happy ever after; make it worth it.
Yet, sadly, many of those who have their last full measure of devotion would not have laid down their lives for the current state of their nation. Here, in one of the most heartbreaking videos your good heart could ever see, a British Veteran of World War II lets out the heaviest statement I may have ever heard; Alec Penstone of the Royal Navy tells the world the sacrifice was not worth it. All the killing and dying were not worth what his country has become. We all know why. But there is a Lion in those hills. There will be a Return of the King who will Call the Banners. We will win the One War, and all its orbiting conflicts, and the good people of the earth will prosper.
Please, take the time to listen to the story of Martin Treptow, told by Ronald Reagan
Thank you to all those who paid the price for dreams realized with the grandest treasure, the greatest love, their one noble life.
Their name liveth for evermore.
Come what may,
We will make it worth it.
