Our soldiers
what are we doing to them?
what have we asked from them?
not only their
physical effort
not only their
mental discipline.
We’ve asked for
their lives–
we’ve asked them
to fight our wars
to imprint forever on their souls
the images of destruction
we’ll never see with our own eyes
for the sake of our status quo.
Do we wonder
what they feel
when that M-16 is in their hands
what they feel
when they’re told to fire
what they feel
when the explosions begin
what they feel when
they return home
and the visions
haunt their dreams?
Do we wonder enough
what happens to our
soldiers in the dark
of their memories
what happens to their hearts
when they are forced
to return to war?
Don’t tell me
we do not force them
don’t tell me
that the soldier I sat next to
on a plane last winter
on his way to see his baby daughter
for the first time in nearly two years
was happy to be ordered on another tour
don’t tell me
he went willingly
and not because circumstance
had made the military
look like the best way
he could provide for his family
don’t tell me
he went willingly
when he was supposed to be
finished with his obligation
don’t tell me
we don’t use force
in one way or another.
We ask of our soldiers
their strength
their intelligence
their hearts
for our freedom
What
have we
done
with
theirs?
written by Narinda Heng
http://longcoolhallway.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/for-freedom/