I am responsible for the Daily Reflections at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital that show up on our intranet and as an email "sent out" by the CEO. I searched for way too long yesterday for something for Veteran's Day. Unsatisfied, I wrote this to post. Perhaps others will find some positive qualities about it. Thank you especially, big brothers Pete and Nick.
Veteran's Day Poem by Magdalyn Sebastian, November 10, 2012.
Old men in faded uniforms that strain at their buttons,
marching proudly in scattered formation down Main Streets
and gathering at VFW’s to share with comrades,
silently or in whispered story
what they cannot share with anyone else.
Young women in camouflage pants and dust colored T-shirts,
remembering home and sweet hearts and
what life used to be before they were deployed,
stationed in a land as different from home
as any could imagine, only hotter.
A newly elected Congresswoman,
in stylish skirt and beaming smile,
marching across a stage
on prosthetic legs and feet.
Proudly served, proudly serving.
Men who left home as boys
who most often worried about
X-boxes and girls
or how to stay away from gangs and drugs.
Now different, never the same and yet the same.
For every generation of warriors
we remember the valor and willingness
to serve in ways we would not.
We pray to remember as well
to honor each one who took the uniform
with passionate work for peace.
