“It's good to touch the green, green grass of home." ~ Curly Putman
“I
only have a few seconds more,” the soldier in Afghanistan told his young
wife. “I need you to send me some
things. I’ll detail them in an email. Gotta go, bye, I love you and can’t wait to
be home again.” The connection went
dead.
The call was a luxury of sorts, about once a week or so. Ten minutes of real time, real voice, honest
to God personal contact. What would the
World War II vets think of that? They’d
sometimes gone without letters for months on end.
But the call’s end always left her longing; emptiness
swallowed her up whole like Jonas the whale.
She wondered what he needed.
Socks, T-shirts, food items?
Maybe some new DVD’s?
His email left her confused. She appeared to be having a conversation in
her head; of all the things he could have asked her to send from home . . . he
asked for American soil, fertilizer, and some grass seed. She questioned his sanity briefly.
Later, she’d learn it was so he could feel the grass tickling
his bare feet. When the other soldiers
of the squadron were given a new mission, they took turns walking through the
grass too.
What was it about American soil?
Could it have been because walking barefoot strengthens and
stretches the muscles and tendons in your feet and calves? Or maybe it’s because walking in the grass sans-boots
helps decrease anxiety and increases the levels of those ‘feel-good’
endorphins. Some even believe that
walking shoeless in the grass is the best cure for insomnia.
Or maybe these dedicated men and women believe so fiercely
that America is still the greatest nation in the history of the planet, they’re
will to sacrifice everything for her.
Sure our nation has issues, but American creativity and ingenuity cannot
be matched anywhere in the world. American
colleges and universities are just straight up the best the world has to offer.
American companies dominate all the important industries in
the world. The variety of our natural
resources plus a good chunk of arable land make our geography some of the most
highly desirable on earth.
What makes us American?
Diversity, tolerance, resilience, ingenuity, and patriotism. And also our faithfulness. We have no official faith, no national
church. But the United States is by far
the most churchgoing country in the developed world.
In the end, I’m sure it’s for good luck and the hope of
returning to the “green, green grass of home.” We pray that day will come
soon. Thank you to the men and women of our
Armed Forces for volunteering to protect us from those that wish harm upon us!
Lord Jesus, thank you for our
Veterans – those active, discharged, retired, deceased or on reserve. At some point in each of their lives, they
wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to
and including, their own lives. Amen
