LAST NIGHT I WAS AWAKENED BY A STRANGE NOISE.
MAYBE NOT STRANGE BUT STRANGE!It was not the wife snoring nor the daughter saying why can’t I; or my grandson Justin laughing uncontrollably cause grandma is tickling his stomach. This I can live with. This noise was familiar to me. A noise I’ve known all my life but did not recognize. Let’s say just took it for granted. Maybe it’s the trouble times we are going through today. Do we feel safe in our own home?
Are terrorists going to destroy our American way? Laying here and thinking I recognize the sound; it’s our American flag we fly on holidays hitting the side of our house just outside our bedroom window blowing free. Now we fly it always. Did I say familiar. Known it all my life, just took the noise for granted. I’m glad our flag opened my eyes last night.
WHY
I heard on the news that people are protesting at the funeral of a nineteen year old soldier who gave his life for his country. “WHY”Why is God’s name would anyone protest at a young mans funeral or any funeral. Is the American people getting as sick as the people in other lands. This boy and that is what he was; went to defend the ground we all live on and to protest for what ever the reason they should be ashamed. Shame on you!I remember coming home from Vietnam after serving in “66” and being dropped off the bus four blocks from my home. It was the old neighborhood. As I walked through my old hang out, a car of young fellows rode by and spit at me and called me a baby killer. Standing there in full uniform glad to be home I thought “what did I do so wrong”. When I got home Mom and Dad where happy to see me and said lets go out and eat and son will you wear your uniform. I was reluctant not knowing what’s going on. Overseas they keep telling us the U.S.A. is behind you. I heard different after arriving home. I put my uniform on for my mom and Dad and stood proud for them. After all you do what your parents say. I’m still proud I had a chance to protect my family and homeland. My wife Sandy served three years in the Marines during Vietnam and I’m sure she feels she defended her country as well. I know I’m proud of her. People that served their country should be HONORED, not protested.
The Sound of Freedom
….Last night as I slept, I was suddenly awakened by a soft strange noise. The noise I heard should not have been strange to me, but for this night, it was strange.
….I knew it was not my wife snoring, nor was it my daughter as she stirred around the house, nor was it my grandson Justin laughing uncontrollably as his Grandmother tickled his stomach. The noise’s of my family could have been easily identified.
….I knew I had heard it before and the strange noise was familiar to me in some strange way, but for the moment I could not remember where or when.
….It was a strange noise that I had heard on many occasions, but had just pushed it from my mind because it probably did not have any value to me at the time. Perhaps it had slipped my mind because of the troubled times that the world is going through today.
….Perhaps it had slipped my mind because this country had forgotten what it was like to have fear. Perhaps it had slipped my mind because I had just learned to take this strange noise for granted.
….As I lay in my bed trying to figure out what this strange noise was that I was hearing, I wondered if the terrorist were going to try to destroy our American way of freedom, but then I remembered the strength of prayer and the blessings that God had always bestowed upon America, and I realized that our country is strong and will overcome these cowardly acts that has been committed against our great nation.
…Then suddenly I remembered where I had heard the strange noise many times before. It was the same strange noise that I had heard on the U.S. Navy Ship that I once had served aboard when I was a younger man and the strange noise that I was hearing became very familiar to me and no longer strange.
…Did I say familiar? I recognized the noise as one I had heard all my life and had taken it for granted to long. I realized that it was the same noise that General George Washington had heard on the night he crossed the Potomac River during the Revolutionary War. It was the same noise that Abraham Lincoln heard on the day he was inaugurated as the president of the united States and it was the same noise that the United States Marines had heard on the day they captured the Island of Iwo Jima during the second world war.
….I realized that since I was a little boy I had heard this very same noise on every Flag Day, every Veteran’s Day and on every Memorial Day and I knew then that the strange noise I had been hearing was the American flag that I was flying outside my bedroom window in support of America and the victims of the recent tragedy that this country had suffered. I had been awakened by the sound of our American symbol of freedom as it blew in the wind and brushed softly against the outer wall of my home. It was telling me that my wife and children’s freedom was still safe, and that everything was going to work out for the good. That strange noise was telling me that Old Glory was still on the job watching over my family and I. As I laid back and slowly closed my eyes to rest, I was glad that my flag had made this strange noise this night, because it had opened my eyes once again and made me thankful that we live in a free country where we are allowed to fly our flag with pride and honor.
What Happen
I once was the man of the house. Now I ask my daughter to help me change a 100 pound tank of gas. I just couldn’t do it.
Do you know how bad it feels to cry in front of your daughter? I just can’t do anything anymore. God has been good to me, but everything has its limits. I hope I did not embarrass my baby. When you are used to being the man of the house and you find out your are not anymore – it hurts.
I have trouble standing, walking or just sitting. My legs hurts 24/7. I have good medical at the V.A. but all they do is say take these pills three time a day (what is wrong) just take the pills.
It is 2:00 O’clock in the afternoon and my legs are killing me. I’m just sitting trying to be cool. Don’t say anything, don’t day you hurt, your are the “Man of the House”.
© Copyright James D. Hubbard
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