Tag: honor our soldiers

5/28/12 “In Memoriam”

Good day, team.

Today is Memorial Day. For this week’s challenge, I am offering a few poems about war that touch me deeply. It is but one way to honor those who serve in the armed forces. Your challenge this week is to find your own way to honor those who served their countrymen. Let us not forget those who have perished, those who’s lives have been marred by war, and those who continue to serve us.

As Toilsome I Wander’d Virginia’s Woods

As toilsome I wander’d Virginia’s woods,
To the music of rustling leaves kick’d by my feet, (for ’twas autumn,)
I mark’d at the foot of a tree the grave of a soldier;
Mortally wounded he and buried on the retreat, (easily all could understand,)
The halt of a mid-day hour, when up! No time to lose-yet this sign left,
On a tablet scrawl’d and nail’d on the tree by the grave,
Bold, cautious, true, and my loving comrade.

Long, long I muse, then on my way go wandering,
Many a changeful season to follow, and many a scene of life,

Yet at times through changeful season and scene, abrupt, alone, or in the crowded street,
Comes before me the unknown soldier’s grave, come the inscription rude in Virginia’s woods,
Bold, cautious, true, and my loving comrade.

~ Walt Whitman

Ten Minutes

It was ten minutes before the war
The quietest thing you ever saw
Ten minutes before the war
And everything was looking good

It was ten minutes during the war
The sickest thing you ever saw
Ten minutes during the war
And everything was dying fast

break

It was ten minutes after the war
The emptiest thing you ever saw
Ten minutes after the war
And there was nothing left

No more war
Is that what it takes for
No more war

No more war
Is that what it takes for
No more war

It was ten minutes.

~ Colin Coplin

Upon the Arid Lakes
Someplace
A field of flowers
Rousing under remnants of the dawn:
Out there! from death, I rose
Above the silent many –
A distant will-o’-the-wisp
Reflecting under airs of minor ninths –
How rich the ambience they threw!

What theme of prosody
Had rendered me? –
Tho’ silent were its words:
A broken soul in pulsing pain –
Thou mustn’t guess what goes behind
The sick and ghostly screen of war!

In sallow-grey and other ashen hues,
Disrobed of warming flesh
That reassures the bones,
A twisted pose
Portrayed my physicality –
Not unlike the carcass of a prey;

But as a cloud of thought, I mused,
Exacerbating woes
Collected in a life dispatched
In freely flowing blood,
Conferring crimson shades
Upon the arid lakes aflood
With glorious tides of nascent buds
Begetting innocence.
And as we glowed in ruddy shades,
I asked: ‘What future lies ahead?
What terror trades? ’

~ Mark R. Slaughter

Have a good week!

Kathleen

Kathleen Doyle-White
Pathfinders Coaching
(503) 296-9249 office

5/31/10 “Memorial Day”

Good day team,

In honor of Memorial Day, I am sending this challenge about our armed forces.

Below is a picture of my Uncle Johnny. The year is 1945. He is 19 years old and a soldier in World War II. He enlisted at the age of 18 and fought on the shores of Normandy on June 6, 1944, D-Day. By the time this picture was taken, my Uncle Johnny was no longer a boy. He was a changed man. The horrors he witnessed during his tour of duty were unimaginable. He never spoke about them until he was in his late 70’s. One evening, very late at night, his only son asked him what the war was like. Over tears and lamentations, he spoke about his experiences.

My Uncle Johnny came back from the war as did his older brother, my Uncle Bud. They both survived but not without scars. My Uncle Bud lived with shrapnel in his back and shoulder for the rest of his life. He never complained and he never talked about the war.

I know that my uncles were brave during the war. I also saw their bravery exhibited throughout their lives. They got up each morning with an appreciation for the lives they lived. They worked hard, supported and enjoyed their families, and never quite understood why they came home from the war when many of their buddies did not. I guess they figured that in coming back home, they had a chance to make the best of their lives. It was one way they could honor their comrades who didn’t get that chance.

Today, there are plenty of kids serving in Afghanistan who like my uncles, are witnessing unimaginable horrors. There are countless men and woman who have returned home from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who deal with a myriad of physical and psychological wounds every day. How they are supported and treated when they return, is our responsibility. Hopefully, we are here to help them in whatever way we can.
.
This week, spend a minute or two in grateful appreciation for our armed forces. I don’t believe that war is ever the answer, but the fact remains that at this very moment, it is happening in many places around the globe. Wherever they are, whether it be in Iraq, Afghanistan, or here in the US, take a moment to thank them, to love them, and to hope that they, like the rest of us, will live to see a world someday that lives in peace.

Have a good week!

Kathleen

Kathleen Doyle-White
Pathfinders Coaching
(503) 296-9249

© Copyright 2010 Pathfinders Coaching, Scout Search, Inc., all rights
reserved.

uncle_johnny

5/31/10

Good day team,

In honor of Memorial Day, I am sending this challenge about our armed forces.

Below is a picture of my Uncle Johnny. The year is 1945. He is 19 years old and a soldier in World War II. He enlisted at the age of 18 and fought on the shores of Normandy on June 6, 1944, D-Day. By the time this picture was taken, my Uncle Johnny was no longer a boy. He was a changed man. The horrors he witnessed during his tour of duty were unimaginable. He never spoke about them until he was in his late 70’s. One evening, very late at night, his only son asked him what the war was like. Over tears and lamentations, he spoke about his experiences.

My Uncle Johnny came back from the war as did his older brother, my Uncle Bud. They both survived but not without scars. My Uncle Bud lived with shrapnel in his back and shoulder for the rest of his life. He never complained and he never talked about the war.

I know that my uncles were brave during the war. I also saw their bravery exhibited throughout their lives. They got up each morning with an appreciation for the lives they lived. They worked hard, supported and enjoyed their families, and never quite understood why they came home from the war when many of their buddies did not. I guess they figured that in coming back home, they had a chance to make the best of their lives. It was one way they could honor their comrades who didn’t get that chance.

Today, there are plenty of kids serving in Afghanistan who like my uncles, are witnessing unimaginable horrors. There are countless men and woman who have returned home from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who deal with a myriad of physical and psychological wounds every day. How they are supported and treated when they return, is our responsibility. Hopefully, we are here to help them in whatever way we can.
.
This week, spend a minute or two in grateful appreciation for our armed forces. I don’t believe that war is ever the answer, but the fact remains that at this very moment, it is happening in many places around the globe. Wherever they are, whether it be in Iraq, Afghanistan, or here in the US, take a moment to thank them, to love them, and to hope that they, like the rest of us, will live to see a world someday that lives in peace.

Have a good week!

Kathleen

Kathleen Doyle-White
Pathfinders Coaching
(503) 296-9249

© Copyright 2010 Pathfinders Coaching, Scout Search, Inc., all rights
reserved.