A friend posted this on Facebook after seeing the movie, American Sniper. It is well worth reading. ~ Jon
There’s a great flashback scene in American Sniper where Chris Kyle’s father explains to his young sons that there are three types of people in the world: wolves (those who prey on the weak), sheep (those who can’t defend themselves), and sheepdogs (those who protect and defend the flock).
That said, I think most of us fail to fully grasp what our service men and women have agreed to do for us. Yes, we can intellectually process a person’s willingness to die for their country (we see it romanticized in movies all the time). But the weight of what their commitment really means to them and their families is almost always lost on the rest of us.
I think this is why American Sniper struck such a chord with me. It was a depiction of selflessness that I rarely see anywhere…and it rocked me.
Our service men and women do so much more than bravely risk their lives for our freedom. As if that wasn’t enough, they also risk coming home painfully disfigured and paralyzed. They risk seeing horrific things that their minds will never be able to erase.
They risk being captured. They risk enduring years of brutal torture. They risk coming home broken and fucked up in ways we can’t possibly imagine. They risk having to do things that will haunt them forever to save the lives of others. They risk being savagely beheaded as their loved ones watch from home, in horror.
Other soldiers who find themselves pinned down by the enemy, often nearly bake to death in urine-soaked fatigues under the blazing-hot sun. Let’s consider these men and women – especially the ones with children – who selflessly endure such harsh conditions while missing precious time with their children back home.
Some of our soldiers come home to discover that their spouses have left them. Others return stateside unable to find a job.
What may be saddest of all is that too many of our soldiers come home to an indifferent, self-absorbed society that doesn’t understand the precious gift we’ve been given. Our soldiers have given us the best of themselves. They make untold sacrifices so that we can enjoy safety and security in a free society that allows us to pursue our dreams, selfishly say and do almost anything we want without fear of imprisonment or execution, and take it all for granted.
So before we go back to basking in our own self-importance, whining about life’s little inconveniences, or bitching to anyone who will listen about a perceived injustice we think we’ve suffered, let’s try to keep this in mind: American soldiers are our guardian angels – sheepdogs, if you will – who protect us from harm, and fight for what is right.
Let’s give them and their loved ones the gratitude, reverence and respect they deserve.
