USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ Dear Soldier: You don't know me, but... ~ October 6 2003

Canteen Co-Captain LindaSOG and A Grateful American

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday...
Thank the Veterans who served in
The United States Armed Forces.

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Dear Soldier:

You don’t know me, but I know you.  You were the boy next door, the kid who delivered my paper, the skinny girl in my daughter’s gymnastics class.  You played ball with my son and worked summers at my favorite burger joint.  We have probably never met, but I know you.

	You are a brother, sister, favorite niece or nephew, and someone’s best friend.  You are the child of parents who love you more than they can explain, feel pride words can’t carry, and bear a weight of worry they never dreamed possible.

There are probably a thousand things you’d rather be doing than what is before you now or what may be asked of you soon.  Combat is always possible when one wears the uniform, yet you donned it with full knowledge of the risks.  Not everyone would do it; I, for instance, did not.  Perhaps I’d make a different choice today but this time the decision was yours.  You chose to serve.

The type of people we consider heroes is kind of odd when you think about it:  athletes chasing records, movie stars and musicians, some of whom likely adorn posters in your old room back home.  Yet these folks rarely sacrifice more than time and effort, pursuing ambitions that profit only themselves.    There’s nothing wrong with that in itself; it’s what most of us do in some form or another.  It’s just not the stuff of heroes.   You, on the other hand, hazard your life for a wage that has many military families on food stamps.  You wager it for an ideal and a way of life, not wealth or fame.  If the chips fall wrong, the price you pay is for others.

Who’s the hero?  We’ll probably never know your name; I suspect you don’t care.  My own children are just short of military age but I have raised them to do what is right because it is right, not for gain, glory, or even gratitude.  If these things come, so much the better.  If not, your success is no less because personal reward wasn’t the object in the first place.

	Despite a few noisy voices, history shows the price of freedom is nothing less than blood.  It is not bought so much as leased, a fact some have forgotten after years of relative peace and the increasingly unrestrained license that has come to pass for liberty.  I admit some of us thought your generation might be the first to lose sight of that altogether.  We were wrong, and I’m glad.

I’d have written sooner but I’ve been pretty busy. If that sounds shallow, I suppose it is.  At least it finally occurred to me I have the luxury of busyness with career and family because you and hundreds of thousands like you are willing suit up, ship out, and take your chances.  Seeing your young face on television, a face I have seen at the playground and on the high school volleyball team and in the grocery store, drives home how very much you have on the line.  The least I can do is drop a note to say thanks.

	I do know you, and I know your family.  I know how anxious they are and how much they want for your future.  I understand how tremendously proud they are.  The rest of us are too, even if we’re too wrapped up enjoying the freedoms you protect to remember to say it.

Please look after yourself and be as careful as you can.  I will be praying for you and your family.  We all want you home safe.    A Grateful American

 

[Fawnn]

E.G.C.!!! #50!!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good morning, Pippin!

[Fawnn]

(P.S. I now have one more way to make "candy cane" letters to go with "wreath Os" for the holiday wOOhOOs. LOL!!!) ;)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good Monday morning, Tom! Good Monday morning, Patriotic Pattie!

[blackie]

Ya can't have too much coffee ~ thanks Kathy!

[blackie]

Very cool! :)

[Fawnn]

Not enough caffeine yet to make any decisions? LOL

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning Ma!!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Nap...writing...coloring! LOL! I'm late. Off to work.

[StarCMC]

Teh Truth is worth fighting for!

[StarCMC]

Teh=The

Oh boy! I need more Diet Mt. Dew before I post! LOL!!

[StarCMC]

Humor to start your day:

Looking to sell a cheap digital camera - I don't need it any longer as I am in the hospital. I'm including the last photo that I took so that you have some idea about the picture quality.

[StarCMC]

My 2 cents -- they are both AWESOME but I like the first one better. You are GREAT at that -- I wish I could figure it out. What program to do you use to create that stuff?

[Fawnn]

Thanks.

What program to do you use to create that stuff?

Paint Shop Pro (I'm still using PSP 7.05)

I wrote a tutorial on how to make the fancier letters years ago. I don't even remember what version of PSP I was using at the time. I already told MoJo I'd try to find it, so I probably should add doing that to the "list," eh? ;)

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[blackie]

???

[SevenofNine]

Good morning Canteen members

Well two item off Hareetz wire Syria is urging UN condemn Israel action on their country but US telling Syria CHILL OUT and smackdown the terror groups in their country


Later on this week according to wire Arab league going meet on Israel action on Syria


Also breaking news off Interfax wire report that Kremlin appoint dude that ran for Chechen gig has won the election


And funny item off LA Times they throwing Diva fit people are cancel the LA Times paper

And according to them subscribe to Orange Country register and LA Daily news

TOO FUNNNYYYY

[Pippin]

Good Morning Kathy!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"Thanks for the "Dear Soldier" tribute. Outstanding."

Thanks. The credit however belongs to LindaSOG,
she created the tribute, I just posted it for her.