YOC: June

‘If I could give you one gift for the rest of your life it would be this:’

My original plan was something cute. But while on Washington D.C. driving through Arlington this line came back staring at acres and acres of graves, and I sat in the back of our tour bus and cried.

There are nearly 400,000 people buried here on 200 acres. Soldiers, astronauts, explorers, presidents, justice-of-the-peace, civil rights leaders are all honored here as well. There are people from many nationalities and different countries. There are markers for those buried on foreign soil, and those buried or lost at sea.

To see the Vietnam Wall, a list of 50,000 names of people who died; to see 200 acres of nothing by graces, to see the memorial wall at the WWII Memorial that signifies the 400,000 soldiers and airmen and navy-men and Marines and coast guard and many more who died is heart breaking.

I do not understand war, I choose to ignore politics because when it comes down to it there are young men and women who believe in nothing more than an idea, who choose to risk everything they have for people they never have met because of this idea.

I do not understand war, I am humbled and heart broken by death that, to me, seems needless – but I am thankful that someone has the courage to stand up for what they believe is right, to do something instead of standing back and letting the world go by.

Arlington

White flowers cover the hills,
small blooms underneath wave in the wind –
sentinels stand by to protect the field.

The numbers keep growing;
row after row, silent white flowers –
marble stalks that ever multiply.

Whispers carry on the wind,
voices from long ago, voices from now –
promises made, still to keep.

They paid the highest price,
gave the most precious of gifts –
one that will last, one to be cherished.

Graves cover the hills, mark those found –
graves lie all over the world with no names –
graves lie at the bottom of the sea.

They were more than names –
they were men, women – they were loved
and still they risked all.

They gave their gift of life
for something they believed in –
to give us hope, which can never die.

“If I could give you one gift for the rest of your life it would be hope that the world can be a better place.”

One band that I really enjoy and write little about is Iced Earth. The first album of theirs that I head is still my favorite, Horror Show. In this album they took classic horror stories and turned them into metal ballads, but one of the songs always hit me hard – it has nothing to do with classic horror stories, and instead looks at the cost of freedom in their minds.

Ghost of Freedom – Iced Earth