Sunday, October 30, 2011

Welcome Home!

Dear Friends,

            It’s been a decade awash in blood and tears.

            The men and women who have so selflessly sacrificed more than they should have ever been asked deserve our unending, heartfelt gratitude.
            It is because of those courageous, valiant souls that I have the freedom to write this without fear of persecution for voicing my thoughts in a public forum.
            Since time immemorial the strong have stood for the weak and bled for them.  They have been our champions and guardians.  They battled back those who would stand for evil over good, wrong over right, greed over altruism.
            In our history we haven’t always been so gracious to our warriors returning home.  The heroes returning from the Second World War were met with parades and revelry and praise for a job well done.  But those who returned from the jungles of Southeast Asia were greeted with scorn and ridicule and protests.  How could we have been so cruel to those who gave so much?  They fought and bled and died as soldiers had done for centuries and yet we treated them not as the heroic warriors they were but were shunned and persecuted for doing what they were sent to do.  They fought in our stead so that we could sleep in peace.
            Though it is years past time to say thank you to the veterans of Vietnam, I still want to tell them they were and are appreciated by many more than they really know.
            The men and women returning home from Iraq will be met with gratitude and open arms by most of the American people.  I will be one of them.
            There will be those dissenting few who will look down their noses and sniff in disdain at them for what they might perceive as unnecessary cruelty and violence toward a country that we had no business sticking our political noses in.  I say to them, “THEY DREW FIRST BLOOD!”  9/11 wasn’t the first attack against America; it was just the first attack on our turf.  We are now more vigilant and it will be the last time we are taken by surprise.
            We could no longer turn the other cheek when terrorist groups bent on destruction of democracy in favor of their religious tenets that dictated nothing but subjugation of women and death to any who do not believe as they do.
            Our men and women in uniform have upheld the democracy and freedom this country was founded on and still stands for.  They’ve done their patriotic duty not because they were paid a wage for their loyalty but because they believe in what they are fighting for.
            They are strong, they are proud, they are Americans with honor.
            Please join me in saying to all of those returning home from Iraq.

                                    WELCOME HOME      

            The war isn’t over and many more are destined to die until terrorism is defeated.  For now, we can rejoice in the fact that there are those with the strength of heart and soul to stand and say, “Not on my watch will your evil enter here!”

May God bless all of our military and keep them safe.

Until next time,
Kate

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