Posted by
G-News on Friday, June 01, 2007 8:57:14 AM
I woke up at 4am this morning thinking about your son. I read last night an article about his sacrifice and the sacrifices of others like him.
I know there is nothing I can say or write to assuage your grief, but if I may dare approach you, I would like to tell you how grateful I am for your family’s service.
Our enemy believes they can win this war for this reason: they say, “we love death more than you love life.”
They are right about what they love and what we love. But their conclusion is wrong for this reason: we love freedom more than we love life. We love freedom more than they love death. We as Americans have never and will never willingly succumb to the indignity of tyranny or oppression.
Thinking about gold star families of wars past, I realized Americans have always fought and died for freedom: freedom from kings and from slavery; freedom from concentration camps and communism. Today’s struggle is against Global Islamic Terror and religious oppression. This generation’s fight is, once again, for liberty and for freedom.
This may sound strange, but I also envy your son’s courage. Most of us will die just for being old. And when we do, many of us will wonder if we lived for anything. Your son died for others. And for his sacrifice, you will suffer his absence for decades. But as recipients of God’s mercy, how great will your reunion be!
Everyone who receives God’s mercy will be reunited with loved ones. But yours will be extra savory because the absence you suffered is for the great and wonderful cause of freedom. He set aside his own life for others.
There’s a saying that it’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees. We live free because your son and great men like him died free.
He chose a noble path. If no one chose your son’s path, none of us would be free. Therefore, my gratitude to you and to him is inexpressible.