To Serve Is To Sacrifice
Service to the country is a noble choice. Whether it is fully understood even by the one who raises his or her right hand and swears to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States or not, the reality of choosing to serve involves sacrifices on many levels. And those who choose to serve are among the best of us precisely because of this choice. Those who serve know this reality intimately. Today, they represent less that 1% of our population. And many of those who serve also have families. How often do we think about the sacrifices that those family members make?
It is one thing for an adult to choose to serve in the military. They can comprehend the full spectrum of possibilities that that service might imply. But the little ones, the children of our servicemembers, don’t have that capacity. They simply know the reality of their feelings in the moment. And those feelings can range over the full spectrum of human emotions. They do not understand the complexities of what their parents do or why they do it. They do know when their parents love them, and they know the fears, the loneliness, and the longing that arise in them when the parent is not immediately there with them. They don’t know the whys behind their parents’ being gone, they just know the deep hole in their heart when they are not there with them.
The little girl in this video can’t stop crying as she waits to see her father who has been on a deployment. All the pent-up emotions she is expressing in those tears and sobs have been held inside of her unexpressed for some time. That is the source of those tears. But you can be sure that it is love that is the source of them as well. What is the one word she is able to say through her tears? “Daddy.” And she repeats that word in an innocent mantra of anticipation charged with anxiety.
This waiting child is an icon for all the children that wait in their innocence. She waits for the one that she loves, the one who has loved her, who has been gone for so long. Time, for a child, has an immensity to it that adults can compartmentalize. A week without that father, that mother, who is the loving center of their life, is an eternity to the child. They don’t understand the reasons, they only know the inarticulate feelings of emptiness. They miss the presence of their father or mother. They miss the tone of their voice and the comforting feeling of their hugs. That is everything to a child. In their innocence, they are also serving and sacrificing.
We, of course, honor the immense sacrifices that those who serve in the uniforms of our military services make on behalf of the nation. They can be rightfully proud to serve such a noble cause. They model for us what it means to be people for others. Their service brings with it dangers and possibilities that few others experience, except for people like police and firefighters. Most Americans rarely think about what they do on our behalf, but that is simply because most Americans have not served in the military or even know someone who serves. It is not something that is a part of their daily lives. But it is the reality for those who serve and for their families.
The sweetness of this little girl in this video rightly touches us at a very deep level. In her child innocence, she is a type of icon for why we serve. In the end, military service exists not for the glory of it, but to protect all that is innocent and good in our families, our neighborhoods, and our nation from those who, in a broken world, might wish to do harm.
This video will touch you deeply, but it will make you think about what service and sacrifice mean in real terms. We pray for all who serve and for their families who serve with them. Keep them safe and whole.
@texas_diamond My baby girl! Welcome Home Daddy! #military #militaryhomecoming #army #daughter #CompleteMyLook #FordMaverick #emotional #tearjerker ♬ original sound – texas_diamond
