Gift you could give a US soldier

[STING2]

The following passage is from a sermon by John Hagee:
>
>I want you to close your eyes and picture in your mind the soldier
>at Valley Forge, as he holds his musket in his bloody hands.
>He stands barefoot in the snow, starved from lack of food, wounded
>from months of battle and emotionally scarred from the eternity away
>from his family surrounded by nothing but death and carnage of war.
>
>He stands though, with fire in his eyes and victory on his breath.
>He looks at us now in anger and disgust and tells us this...
>
>I gave you a birthright of freedom born in the Constitution and now your
>children graduate too illiterate to read it. I fought in the snow barefoot
>to give you the freedom to vote and you stay at home because it rains.
>
>I left my family destitute to give you the freedom of
>speech and you remain silent on critical issues, because it might be bad
>for business.
>
>I orphaned my children to give you a government to serve you and it has
>stolen democracy from the people.
>
>It's the soldier not the reporter who gives you the freedom of the press.
>
>It's the soldier not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech.
>
>It's the soldier not the campus organizer who allows you to demonstrate.
>
>It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is
>draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!
>
>
>"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect
>us.
>Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us
>in our time of need. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
>
>Amen."
>
>When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our
>U.S. ground troops in Afghanistan, AND all over this world.
>
>Of all the gifts you could give a US Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Coast Guard,
>or Airman - Prayer is the very best one.....

 

[Dreadsox]

 

[melon]

I always find the integration of religion and politics fascinating from a media cultural standpoint...

What a virulently anti-leftist piece of tripe that's even more disgusting that it comes from a Christian minister.

Melon

 

[CannibalisticArtist]

hahaha, this brings a tear to my eye and a drip to my dick, but i'm emotional like that.
time for a new spielberg film

 

[martha]

hahaha, this brings a tear to my eye and a drip to my dick, but i'm emotional like that.
time for a new spielberg film

You bastard. You made me spit all over my computer screen. Good thing I wasn't drinking something that would stain.

 

[CannibalisticArtist]

sorry i forgot the obligatory

 

[martha]

That won't cut it. Next time provide instructions.

"Put down the drink. Swallow. Cover your mouth. Snort quietly."

 

[CannibalisticArtist]

sorry but i lose all my fluids when i get emotional, so i just wanted to convey the feeling across on the internet .

 

[martha]

sorry but i lose all my fluids when i get emotional, so i just wanted to convey the feeling across on the internet .

 

[nbcrusader]

No wonder people have trouble with the concept of Grace.

 

[melon]

No wonder people have trouble with the concept of Grace.

No...I just have trouble with Hagee's sermon, and all things like it. His swipes at stereotypical leftist bulwarks--reporters, poets, and campus organizers--is a cheap shot at best, and his entire sermon is arrogantly blasphemous. It's only befitting that this minister doesn't even evoke anything religious until the last paragraph; the rest of it sounds like the words of a politician.

Melon

 

[Salome]

my eyes always get misty when people say things such as

as he holds his musket in his bloody hands.

hard to believe they still throw muskets out of those fighter planes though

 

[pax]

No...I just have trouble with Hagee's sermon, and all things like it. His swipes at stereotypical leftist bulwarks--reporters, poets, and campus organizers--is a cheap shot at best, and his entire sermon is arrogantly blasphemous. It's only befitting that this minister doesn't even evoke anything religious until the last paragraph; the rest of it sounds like the words of a politician.

Melon

I have to agree with Melon somewhat. The core message of the sermon--that U.S. troops deserve and need our prayers and concern--is a good and fitting one. But his positive message is lost in the negative dressing. He alienates a liberal audience by his "cheap shots," as Melon rightly calls them. Journalists, poets, and protest organizers are patriots too--just ask Walt Whitman, Daniel Pearl, Katharine Graham, Robert Frost, or Martin Luther King.

 

[nbcrusader]

No...I just have trouble with Hagee's sermon, and all things like it. His swipes at stereotypical leftist bulwarks--reporters, poets, and campus organizers--is a cheap shot at best, and his entire sermon is arrogantly blasphemous. It's only befitting that this minister doesn't even evoke anything religious until the last paragraph; the rest of it sounds like the words of a politician.

Melon

I know YOU know what Grace means. And I am also troubled with the sermon (hell, I cringe at something in most sermons I hear).

What is missed by the younger generation (those under the age of 45, including me) is the price individuals paid for our way of life.

The work of journalists, poets and protest organizers to refine our society are built on the framework obtained by our citizen soldiers of yesteryear.

I think there is a little "born on third base, thought I'd got a triple" in all of us regarding our freedoms.

 

[Dreadsox]

I have read and reread it...

I can see how it would be taken that way, however, I do not think it was a dig just at the left......


I left my family destitute to give you the freedom of
>speech and you remain silent on critical issues, because it might be bad
>for business.

I really thought of this as a dig on the Right.

I could very easily have taken this next line to be offensive:
I gave you a birthright of freedom born in the Constitution and now your
>children graduate too illiterate to read it.

I bust my tail trying to get my kids(students) to read and improve.


It saddens me to think that the intent of this poem has been politicized. Just before I was called to duty during Desert Storm, I was working at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Boston. The college students organized a protest march that happened to go by the hotel. AS I stood outside to make sure there was no disturbances for the guests, another employee was ranting about how Un-American the marchers were being. Much to his shock, I disagreed with him. I felt proud that they were excercizing their rights to freedom of speech. A right, that I had taken an oath to protect when I joined the service.

I did not care that they were opposed to the military action. I cared that I lived in a place where an opposing view could be voiced. A place that I had sworn to defend.

When you get right down to it, NB hit the nail on the head. Someone in the past sacraficed their life and their future so that our world would be free. It saddens me, that this is not given much respect by so many.


Peace

 

[deep]

Why was that war fought?

Dread,
Sting,


I want to thank you for choosing to serve in the military of my country.

I have a good friend,her son is 21 years old. He is activated in this current Iraq situation. I taught him how to drive and let him use my car to pass the driving exam. I am concerned for his safety.



This poem suggests the U. S. War for Independence.

Why was that war fought?

Please, the short answer.