I never thought that I would be singing the accolades of any French politico. Ever. Meet Nicolas Sarkozy. My friend Jessica told me about the Laura Ingraham show http://lauraingraham.com/ (yipee! Another talk radio show to stalk since I don't have Chris Corr http://www.wmal.com/sectional.asp?ID=18474 anymore!) and she played soundbytes from yesterday's visit from French President Sarkozy. I found bits and pieces of his speech, none of which do the full speech justice, but it was moving. Thought I'd share: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071107/ts_afp/usfrancepolitics_071107192856. What I found particularly stirring was the reference to American veterans who died liberating France. Especially as we are at war...so I thought that I'd pass this along, too. My very good friend, Valerie, is married to a WWII vet; so she has particular insight as to how we can be kind to our troops. Here's an attachment of what she recently sent me:
A Great Idea!!!
When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, Please include the following:
A Recovering American soldier
C/O Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001
2 comments:
Rach-
Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone. I am so happy that you share your opinions and thoughts on things of such importance.
I have great respect and particular insight to how the military functions-as I grew up in the ARMY, and saw troops leave and come home, and some not come home during Somalia and Bosnia.
One thing I think that America has forgotten about is that soldiers are for the most part, extremely patriotic and want to be defending their country-when they do their job (some of them their whole lives) honorably, they command our respect at home. Regardless of whatever political views we might harbor-they are our citizens.
We must never let another Vietnam war time homecoming happen again. The demonstrators protesting at the funerals of soldiers is an inkling of how much hatred and dissention there was displayed for the Vietnam Veterans coming home to a divided and confused nation, hoping for some peace. WWII soldiers were welcomed home with open arms because we as a country were united and remained bonded in honor and virtue.
It is funny to hear the clips from the visit of the French President-considering that France has left us in almost every major war after we have come to their aid. I believe he is sincere in his words, and I hope that France can unite themselves one day so that they can be at peace and are able to defend their wars (both domestic and foreign)until the end.
My heart is saddened that there must be war at all. But we know that the War on Terror has been going on from the time that Cane killed Able. Cane was dealt with by a Righteous and loving God, and righteous purposes will always be supported by Heavenly Father if the defenders have a sincerely righteous intent. (think Nephi and Laban)
I am reminded of the Gadianton Robbers, who disguised themselves and quietly went about the distruction of many great societies throughout the Book Of Mormon- through their secret meetings and hushed plans and promises of wealth and power to whoever would follow them. Not at all different from the modern day terrorists who disguise themselves as US citizens, attach themselves to car bombs and sacrifice their everything, for a little hope and promise of virginal rewards and monetary gain in the next life.(how does that work?)
The evils we fight through this war are rooted so deeply that we alone will never rid the world of them. We must have help from above. Whether we entered into this battle against terror through our Presidents' lack of ability to make up his own mind, and chose hastily to listen to his now ousted advisors-matters not. I believe from looking at our past and knowing the direction of our future spiritually, that we would have had to fight this demon at some point, and we would have begged our military to defend us-just as we did after 9-11, and we would have prayed for help to keep us safe, just as we did after 9-11, and we would have been united, just as we were after 9-11. The only difference would have been that we may not have had enough time to prepare ourselves for the atrocities that could befall us if the terrorists succeeded at overtaking our nation.
But are we now prepared? Have we as a nation done anything more than bicker, squabble and name call on the floors of our most cherished capitol (which was to be destroyed had 9-11 achieved all of their goals)? Have we united ourselves against terror or become terrorists towards eachother?
At least now we have a head start against outside terrorism, and a glimpse as to what terrorists can do to a society.
And those of us lucky enough to have been taught in the gospel and forewarned of the signs for the second coming, are able to prepare a little longer before the inevitable battle between those faithful individuals and the Gadianton Robbers truly begins.
When I make reference to terrorists-know that I refer to all those throughout the world-regardless of race or nationality-who seek to destroy freedom, goodness, decency and hope.
President Bush doesn't know what we as LDS members know-that this is a fight of the spirit world. This is a fight unlike WWII-where we could see our enemies, where we stopped fighting on Christmas so that each side could sing a Christmas Hymn, where we bent over backwards to defend the body as well as the soul and we were a decent and God-fearing nation. This is a war involving the state of our spiritual nature as human society. Are we deserving of protection against terrorism, when we cannot even come together to help find a smooth and honorable way to bring our soldiers home?
I hope that we can prolong the patience of our Heavenly Father for a while longer, as I am not ready to lay down my life quite yet at the hands of evil and vile men-be it under my government or someone else's.
I hope that our government does not crumble under immorality as did Rome, Greece and Babylon. Because I truly believe that as we strive to fend off the evils of terrorism, that if we are not more careful about who we elect to represent us, and the elected are not more careful about how they reign, it will be our own undoing as a result of the immorality and pride of our government-and we will crumble and then we will become our own worst enemy.
I am so grateful for the examples of my Grandfather and my husband's grandfather, and my father and all those who served their country before and after these men. Their sacrifice was meaningful to me. I am an American and I enjoy my freedoms because they were willing to die for them!
I am honored to have so many veterans from our current war located so closely to me-and to be at the heart of our nation where there are physical reminders on almost every street of the history we have with our veterans. I hope that my testimony in the gospel grows stronger, so that I may be numbered among the veterans that sacrificed my life for the second coming of the Savior when the time arrives. I am grateful every day to be a citizen of this nation-it is still the greatest nation on earth-and my heart is full of love and gratitude for those who made it that way for me and my family.
I will continue to keep the families of the veterans and the leaders of the world (even France) in my prayers.
Someday there will be no war-when all will be still and the quiet beauty of peace will abound on every corner of the earth.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts Rachael. I needed to express those very thoughts to someone and this gave me the perfect forum.
I hope you are well and I miss you.
Take Care,
Carrie
Wow! Thank you for your comments; I'm glad that you could express them (so eloquently) here.
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