Javan and Marissa have made a few friends to call their own recently, and every now and then I hear little taps on the door and hear the kids go running to see who is on the other side with excitement.
Yesterday I was wondering through the house and felt like I needed to check on Javan as I went by the front door. I could hear little voices as I came closer and as I opened up the door there where four little people on the front porch and patio. Three of them, one being Javan, were laying on the hot concrete that bakes in the Okinawan sun with bamboo stalks laying around each of them in a perfect rectangular pattern. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to ask what they were up to? "Why are you laying on the steamy ground and what do these sticks represent?"
The little girl, Sky (a twin in fact to Summer) went on to explain to me they were playing and she was the nurse taking care of all the hurt soldiers of "THE" war.
"THE" war- lets take a minute and think about that...
Sky at 6 years old didn't say , "We are playing like I am the nurse taking care of soldiers hurt of "A" war." Why? because to her, in her little mind it is MUCH more. It is not "A" war, it is "THE" war, "THE" war that takes her daddy away, "THE" war that makes her family incomplete for months at a time. "THE" war that she hears her mommy and all of her mommies friends talk about and cry on each others shoulders as they miss and need the one they love most, the one who comforts her mommy when she is sad or simply says "I love you" that her mommy no longer hears from her Daddy and wonders if she will ever hear again. "THE" war that causes her Daddy to miss her birthday's and other major events that she will look back on pictures and notice that someone is missing.
I guess as this war has lingered on from year to year I think our patriotism has stood strong but our reality is misconstrued. Our lives go on, we go to work, play with our children,eat dinner at the family table and go to bed feeling safe. All while the smallest creatures of the war, our soldiers children - go to school, wish their mom or dad were there to play ball with them in the front yard or go to the pool. They eat dinner with one less family member unable to share stories of how they found a new bug outside today and caught it or met a new friend. They go to bed thinking about Mommy or Daddy and cry themselves to sleep wishing they could just have a hug and kiss goodnight before they closed their little eyes but also give back "unconditional" love and support despite all the things they are neglected of.
It is a different world in which these children live, one of gated communities that they live in guarded by gunned military police, random vehicle searches, deployments, training exercises and much more. They games they play are different, they have different perspectives on play and life, even at the young age of 6 years old.
You see, to Sky, Summer and the other little children of military members this is not "A" war it is "THE" war, the war they too fight everyday even if the rest of us have forgotten. God bless you little ones and I pray that God shields your little hearts from pain and sorrow.
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