Imagine that it was you, your son, your brother, your dad, your husband or your spouse called to fight for this thing we call freedom. It's not that hard to do. Think about it....The freedom that we take for granted carries a high price; the price of a human life. Our soldiers know this deep in their hearts when they sign those papers to become a part of the United States military.
My grandfather knew - he fought in WWII and the Korean War. Thank God he came home.
My step-father knew - he did two tours in Vietnam. Thank God he came home from both.
My husband knew - he doesn't talk about it (still brings back too many memories of loss) but he knew, he went and Thank God he came home.
Now imagine that your loved one was called, went to fight and never came home. Imagine how horrible you would feel losing someone special. What could possibly be worse? Worse would be loving a "lost" soldier. A soldier who went, served and disappeared somewhere in a far away country.
POW and MIA are terms we hear but may not truly understand - not deep down in our hearts. Prisoner of War - sounds ugly doesn't it? Uglier still is a POW, left behind by the country he loved, from a war that was over years and years ago. Have we forgotten him? He must feel like we have. What about his family? Do we imagine that they must have "gone on with their lives" and don't spare the missing part a second thought? I don't think so. And what of our government? They tell us that there are no POW's out there...yet other sources give information that there are. What are we as a nation to think?
MIA - Missing in Action - that's another one for you. No closure for the families there. Missing - makes you think of a possibly of finding doesn't it? You can't find something or someone if you don't bother to look though. Are we looking America?
I am truly blessed that I didn't grow up hearing stories about a grandpa that was lost or imprisoned somewhere far away. I was raised by my mom and my step-dad...not by my mom and memories of a man I never really knew. My husband is with me in raising our 5 children rather than a picture of a missing part of my heart.
The next time you hear the term POW/MIA put some faces and some feeling to it rather than keeping it a sterile term that doesn't really mean anything to you personally. Remember America - those faces are real to some family you'll probably never meet...and one day those faces could belong to you.
