The soldiers Bush didn't visit on Thanksgiving

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This is a reality check for those of us that are safe and secure and warm in our homes this morning here in America. Thanks to the technology of today we are bombarded with images of war every day both on TV as well as magazines and Internet access to sites such as CNN. It seems as if there is nothing that escapes our perview. The only way we can escape the harsh realities of life and the human sufferings of others is to deny ourselves any type of media consumption. How often do we do that?

I believe that because we have such instant access to the violence all around us that we have become desensitized to the pain and anguish of others all around us. That goes for the drive by shooting in North Charleston to the wounded soldier in Baghdad. We hear reports of random violence every single day and we are far removed from becoming emotionally involved. We tell ourselves that yes the world is a violent place to live in BUT it is happening to THOSE people and not me or my family. Some of us kid ourselves into thinking that we dont have to worry about it happening to us. We rationalize that because we are who we are or because of where we live we surround ourselves with a false sense of security and hope in that those things will not happen to us.

I come from a family of men who have served their country. They served their country and went wherever they were sent and did whatever they had to do to stay alive and come back home to their families. It is so easy for us to sit back and be arm chair politicians and analyze the validity of where our men and women are sent. Intellectually we say we count the cost and we realize that some of those men and women will give their lives so that we can have the privelege and right to be arm chair politicians and critics of our government and their policies. This article is not designed to take a political view point or to decide for us IF we should be where our men and women are fighting in Iraq. What this article does is it snaps us back into reality and helps us to count the cost of freedom. Men and women are being killed, maimed and tortured in the name of freedom. If it was your son or daughter that was over there dodging bullets or wondering if they were going to live another day because of worry about landmines, suicide bombers or car bombs then your perspective on the war would probably be much different.

Take time out this morning or whenever it is that you read this and say a heart felt prayer for both the men and women that are fighting for our right to be FREE in America and for those families that have loved ones that are SERVING us with their very life blood on foreign soil. The LEAST that we can do is PRAY to God and ask HIM for HIS devine guidance and protection for our men and women. The next thing we can do is to be sensitive to the needs of those family members that are here and are missing their spouses or sons and daughters wherever it is they have been deployed to.
If those people knew that we are proud of their family members for serving our country and were willing to atleast give them some of our precious time to just listen to them or help out in some small way I know that it would help them tremendously.

Lets pray that somehow this campaign of terror that America is involved in fighting will somehow be resolved so that our men and women can come home once and for all. I know that might be an unrealistic hope or dream but atleast we can HOPE.