“Do They Know?”

By F. D. Adkins

“DO THEY KNOW?”

For most, it’s a headline.

For him, it is real.

For most, it’s scenes in a movie.

For him, it is wounds that will never heal.

Back home, safe and sound,

They sleep in their bed.

He is in a foreign land,

With explosions and gunfire echoing in his head.

He thinks of his family,

The memories with them he has lost.

But their freedom and their safety

Comes with a cost.

When he gets home

Will they care?

Or will they go about

Completely unaware

Of the time he has missed,

The horrors he has seen,

The price he chose to pay

While they went about their daily routine.

Someday, will they understand,

Will they ever see…

The sacrifice that keeps them

The land of the free.

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In Ecclesiastes 3:7-8, we read that there is, “…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace” (KJV).

This morning, as we read our Bible and pray, as we leave our homes and go about our day, let’s not take for granted the freedoms we enjoy, the freedoms that enemies have sought to destroy. Let’s remember and honor those men and women who have sacrificed. Those, who instead of chasing their dreams, fought to give us the freedom to chase ours. The Bible says there is “a time of war, and a time of peace.” It also says there is a time to speak. Let’s not forget to say, “Thank you.”

Thank you to all who have served our country.