May 30, 1868....A Day To Remember

-Memorial Day-

As I am sure you know, Memorial Day was made to remember our fallen military personnel. This day was to be for the rememberance of those who gave thier life for this country.

I think it is great to remember our dead, as no one should be forgotten, but as Gen. George S. Patton said, "It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."

Now, I of course have never been to war, but I have been reading and studying about the "art of war" for almost 10-years. I have read various accounts of combat and must say it is "not for the faint or weak of heart".

It is by far the most destructive activity we can undertake. War is history. Nothing is more talked about in history then war. It has destroyed nations and it has given birth to nations.

What I am about to share is only one man's account of what happen. There is NO doubt that this affected this young Lieutenant's life.

The below was what that young Lieutenant (I could not find his name) experenced. This is one of the saddest accounts I have ever read.

Here it is:

"I was psychologically and morally ill-prepared to lead my platoon in the great Seventh Army attack on March 15, 1945. But lead it I did....Before that day was over I was sprayed with the contents of a soldiers torso when I was lying behind him and he knelt to fire at a machine gun holding us up: he was struck in the heart, and out of the holes in the back of his field jacket flew little clouds of tissue, blood, and powdered cloth. Near him another man raised himself to fire, but the machine gun caught him in the mouth, and as he fell he looked back at me with surprise, blood and teeth dribbling out into the leaves. He was one to whom earlier on I had given the Silver Star for heroism, and he didn't want to let me down."

"After clearing a woods full of Germans clearly dug in, my platoon was raked by shells...and I was hit in the back and leg by shell fragments. They felt like red-hot knives going in, but I was interested in the few quiet moans...of my 37-year-old platoon Sergeant ...killed instantly by the same shell....My platoon was virtually wiped away. I was in disgrace, I was hurt...."

"I bore up all right while being removed from "the field" and past back through the first-aid station. But when I got to the evacuation hospital 30 miles behind the lines and was coming out from the anesthetic from my first operation, all my affections of control collapsed, and I did what I'd wanted to do for months, I cried, nosily and publicly, and for hours....I must have cried because I felt that their, out of "combat", tears were licensed. I was crying because I was ashamed and because I'd let my men be killed and because my Sergeant had been killed and because I recognized as never before that he might have been me and that statistically if in no other way he was me, and that I had been killed to. But ironically I had saved my life by almost losing it."

What you just read really happen. Think long and think hard this Memorial Day. No one deserves to be forgotten.

Until then,
Jon

A thought from a Knight, for tonight

(This post was suppose to be the May 22 post. So enjoy!)

-A thought from a Knight, for tonight-

When you think of the word Knight, you think of Honor, Loyalty, or more simple put, Chivalry. I don't think of any of those words. Why? Because most Knight's didn't live by that Code. When I think of a Knight, I think of one person: Roland. Roland was the Chief Paladin under Charlemagne, Father of the Holy Roman Empire.

The reason Roland is the best example of a Knight is because of what he stood for. In his own words he said:

"We know our duty: to stand here for our king.
A man must bear some hardships for his lord,
stand everything, the great heat, the great cold,
lose the hide and hair on him for his good lord.
Now let each man make sure to strike hard here:
let them not sing a bad song about us."

Could you imagine if Christians took that kind of stand. Just a thought.

Until then,
Jon

"No Paine, No Gain"

"No Paine, No Gain"

I recently found a book at my library that I have been in search of for a few months. The name of the book is "Common Sense", (my edition has his other writings as well. like "The Crisis" and "The Rights of Man"). It was written by Thomas Paine, who was one of the Founding Fathers.
While I looked in this fascinating book, I saw something that caught my eye. What I read was so true that I must post it.

So, I hope the following paragraph does not cause you any Paine. ;)

Here it is:

These are times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain to cheap, we esteem too lightly: 'Tis dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not bee highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER," and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious, for so unlimited a power can belong only to GOD."

It made me think of how we take so many things for granted. Such as the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. I think that we sometimes esteem the Lord's sacrifice too lightly. Sad, but true.

So, any Paine?

Until then,
Jon

"Go Forward."

-"Go Forward"-

(The above quote was made by General George S. Patton, Jr.)

I found this poem in a book. Someone (I don't know who) had ripped it out of a magazine. I don't know who made it up, but it was made in 1999, (a whole ten years).

I hope you view your life like history; meaning, I hope you learn from the past, not live in it. It's like a preacher once said, "The car designer didn't put side-view mirrors on the car for driving. He put side-view mirrors on the car so that you might see what is behind you. You drive a car by looking forward."

God, like the car designer, allows us to occasionally look back, to see where we once were. But, it is by looking forward that we drive, as already stated.

Here it is:

"This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
Time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.
For by the life and death of Jesus.
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
Can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.
Then let us, with the Spirit's daring
Step from the past and leave behind
Our disappointment, guilt, and grieving,
seeking new paths, and sure to find.
Christ is alive, and goes before us
to show and share what love can do.
This is a day of new beginnings:
our God is making all things new.