My mother was wearing a "Go Army" shirt on yesterday with this slogan. "Freedom is not free." And then I went by a friend's house, and I see this again on an American flag. Synchronicity, you think? In any case, this concept has been on my mind a lot the last few weeks.
I'm trying to follow a path, a spiritual, vocational path. To enter the priesthood. Which is sort of how this blog came into being. I'm following Branwen, a Welsh literary heroine whom many believe was at one point a Goddess of Britain. She represents a few things, among them love and marriage, but one of her main attributes is to be a representation of a nation's Sovereignty.
Sovereignty, a quick-and-dirty way to define that is the right of a nation to govern its own lands, its right to exist and for its people to govern itself independently.
Most nations, for better or worse, as part of maintaining Sovereignty, have a standing military. And, for better or worse, using a military has been part of human existence since we were running around in caves with torches. Fighting, war, that's an unpleasent part of human existence.
Luckily, we 21st century moderns have gotten better at resolving our differences globally through talking rather than shooting at each other. The United Nations is a great example.
Sometimes though, war is an unpleasant necessity. I don't think anybody could have settled with Adolf Hitler over pints of Hoegaarden in 1930's Berlin.
Other wars, like the invasion of Iraq in 2003, were fought for less noble purposes (oil, Bush the Younger wanting to settle the score for daddy, Bush the Elder) But the people that go in, decide to give their lives up and do service for their country, I think they always deserve respect, no matter your politics. I've always felt this way.
I have to do a community service project as part of my Votary (priest) training. I've given strong thought to doing work with veterans. It fits, working, serving people, who themselves in a powerful way have served the Sovereignty of the U.S., our national interest. More so, these men and women come home after making great sacrifices in the field (being parted from family, losing a limb, carrying unseen wounds in panic attacks, PTSD and other afflictions) and many times return to an uncaring and apathetic public.
I watched a documentary in May, around Memorial Day, (interesting because Branwen tends to show Herself to me in signs and symbols around this time) where a group of WWII vets were hanging around Normandy, specifically, around lots and lots of graves. And they said it, these Servants of Sovereignty.
"Freedom isn't free." To quote another oft-used line, "All gave some, some gave all."
Freedom is not free. These individuals pay a high price at times, for all of us at home. And I'm going to find a way to give back.
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