This through countless ages men and angels sing.
"There were many 'last' embraces, but there was one that you make count, and you give it before you know it’s time to watch him run to final roll call," writes Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping as he and his wife and family bid adieu to the precious older son, Lance Cpl. Stephen Sensing, marching as to war in Iraq:
It’s so hard to let go; you want to make time stand still. You barely breathe and try to feel his heartbeat in your own breast because his heart will always beat in yours.
I told [Lt. Col. Kuhn] what I had told my son the night before, that I was deeply envious of my son and his fellow Marines. Some people reach the end of their lives still wondering whether they ever made a positive difference in their country or the world. Marines don’t have that problem, and neither, of course, do soldiers, sailors, airmen or Coast Guardsmen.
My son and his fellows are producers of freedom, not mere consumers of it. And those who only consumed freedom will one night lie in their beds and think themselves accursed that they didn’t serve with them.
God bless this band of brothers and all those who keep the home fires burning.
Comments