Thursday, December 13, 2007

Sending a Thought and Thanks…

I mailed a small Christmas package to my cousin Kathleen in Iraq today that my family put together, and it got me thinking. It got me thinking about how good we have it here because we have people like my cousin Kathleen, spending their holiday in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all around the world, protecting our God given freedoms. They often don’t see what they do the same way
I do, but I thank God every day for people like Kathleen.

Many soldiers like Kathleen are not political, and don’t equate what they do with the political landscape, but if it wasn’t for our soldiers protecting our liberties around the world, politics would be different. These soldiers allow us to be free from the tyranny of foreign governments, they allow us to bargain from a position of strength, and they allow us to argue our points without the threat of interference from those that might wish to take advantage of our differences. They are the confidence we hold when we choose to confront the evil of our world. It is because of them, we are respected around the world no matter what their critics say. Without our troops, the evil of this world would have no boundary.

Without these soldiers we risk a different and cruel world. Our soldiers show the rest of the world what it is to truly be American; selfless, compassionate, freedom loving, and the beacon of hope for all suppressed people of the world. Sometimes I wish the world would show more appreciation. I have to believe deep down the people that have been freed from the likes of Saddam, and the Taliban, do appreciate our efforts. To think otherwise would be too depressing.

So thank you Kathleen, thank you to all the soldiers and their families during this Christmas season, and every day, for keeping me and my family safe. I thank you for representing us around the world with such dedication and honor. And thank you Kathleen for teaching my children how important it is to make sacrifices for the freedom they enjoy. They love writing to you, and it fills my heart that they have such a wonderful pen pal and role model.

I hope everyone writes a letter to our troops to show them they are not alone. We are thinking of you here, over there, and we pray for your safety. God Bless…

2 comments:

Sheri said...

Well said! Rich, if you have a list of items that Kathleen and her unit would like, can you please send it to me? I e-mailed Aunt Elaine over a month ago, but did not hear back from her. Maybe I typed her address in wrong, I don't know. We talked about sending a New Year's package, so we need to get busy on it.

Anonymous said...

It's wonderful that you, Justine, Taylor & Emily are in contact with Kathleen. I'm sure she is very grateful for a friendly voice from home as all of our service people are. We all get caught up in our own lives forgetting about those serving so far from home protecting our interests. APH