They don’t choose the battle or the wars we fight. They don’t have the luxury to protest the cause for they need to live. And in living they uphold the freedoms we all take for granted… In dying they give all they had for us. Do they not, then, deserve our support? Do they not deserve our unconditional thanks for the sacrifices they have made and continue to make? The numbers dead we hear about on the news are not just figures, they are not simply fuel to fire protest of our purpose in the war… they are our neighbors, our countrymen and women. For every one of them who dies, a part of this country dies with them. To protest their efforts and withdraw all support for their well being is to disregard the very lives we lead. Disagree with the war all you want, I do, but never turn your back on those who expose their hearts for you. Never speak ill words about those who cannot speak but for you. Remember these people… these friends, wives, husbands, lovers, cousins, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters because I can assure you, they have not forgotten you.
This is a wedding engagement gift I came up with this morning. The photo was taken back in August when I was in Aruba. As it turns out the table setting itself was in fact for a bride and groom. I can’t think of a more beautiful place for a wedding. The borders are purposely made large so that the photo may fit a wide variety of standard frame sizes.
The photo I am using for this post is one I took several months ago. I could never think of a good purpose for it until now, but I think it does a fair job conveying the meaning in what I’ve written. The focus of this post is the writing which was inspired by Matt and Roni whose comments to a post I made earlier got me thinking. This is the result of that thought.
The Necessity of Life
The path is not always clear, and the destination rarely known.
And while purpose evades us, evasion concerns us yet all the while we seek but hope.
But what reason have we to find our place or fall with grace if death is what awaits?
And what purpose will our achievements serve when we are gone if their sole end was to lead us to ours?
Do not think that existence of self is defined upon the precondition of necessity, for we are all singularly unnecessary.
We will die and fade as our self-serving accomplishments and possessions outlast us far beyond the care of those who succeed us.
And while the pleasures of living are certainly grand, the inevitability of dying will never be escaped… despite our greatest efforts.
Why then search for purpose, what can be found that has even a semblance of permanence?
A great man once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Perhaps this is true, but either way,
The examined and unexamined life both end with death - that is the single greatest truth of life.
The source of life’s significance lies in its end. For if we all lived forever, nothing would truly matter anymore.
Gone would be the need for hope, love, generosity, compassion, mercy…
Immortality would destroy the very things that make us live, the very things that make us human.
And in being human we must accept the conditions of our life and death or suffer the consequences.
We were not born to live a life of isolation or self-importance. We were not born to find immortality.
And though we are all singularly unnecessary, together we form the fabric that transcends all meaning and purpose.
Together we experience hope, love, generosity, compassion, mercy…
Together we experience the necessity of being alive.
Since it has been raining for the past few days, I’ve been getting much more into these indoor creative shots. The overall theme seems to be one of sadness lost in wine. I’m not sad or anything either, these are just the ideas that come to me… strange. There’s a lot going on in this one, but hopefully if you look closely and read my little “shutterscript” below you’ll get the idea.
Tonight I sit to write these lines of love and beauty
To write of the ways I will hold you
And you me, locked in warm embrace
Our hearts combined into molten flesh
Beating as one
Tonight I sit to write these lines of love and beauty
But what beauty is there without your face?
What love without your touch?
What lines without your grace?
Tonight I sit to… mourn
These lines of love and beauty
For they will never be written
Their power never felt
Their subject never held
I was too late, my love
So tonight I will sit
And dream of a time
When I can once again
Write these lines of love and beauty
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