It was a crying day

A friend posted this article on her blog this weekend. It was written by a man in her church for the Elk Grove Citizen (Elk Grove, CA). It is definitely worth sharing.

Many of us have friends and family serving in the military. Personally, my nephew and brother-in-law both have served in Iraq. I couldn't help but think of them when I read this.


It was a crying day

Published: Friday, April 17, 2009 7:59 AM PDT

Every day at the Air Force Theatre Hospital has been a little different for me. I’ve had rewarding days. I’ve had boring days. I’ve had angry days. I’ve had indifferent days. I’ve even had a few happy days.

However, in the three months I’ve been here, I haven’t really had a crying day.

Last week, I finally cried. There had been so many reasons to shed tears on this 120-day deployment, but as precious as water is in the desert, I suppose I thought I needed to conserve them until the end.

The tears started as I sat at my office desk. I think they caught my chaplain assistant off guard.

What had brought the tears? Both of us had a lot of guesses. Perhaps my tears came while thinking of the soldier who recently lost his arms and legs. Both he and his battle buddy had been “med evac’d” out of the country so quickly that none of us really had time to cry for them.

As quickly as they left, another wounded squad arrived to replace them. They too, had been blown apart by an IED. Among them was a wounded medic who was tearfully asking if she had done everything possible to save her battle buddy -- an expectant father. He had pled with her to save him even as he bled to death.

Or were my tears for her other battle buddy who lay in a nearby bed begging me to explain God’s purpose in all of this? His shoulders heaved as he asked for a new Bible to replace the one that had been blown up. Could I share with him a purpose?

Perhaps the tears were for the soldier who told me last month that he was worried he’d grown used to killing insurgents. His eyes moistened as he told me how his parents saw him as a hero. “They wouldn’t call me a hero if they knew what I do,” he declared. “Is it normal to see killing as routine?” he asked. I assured him that he wasn’t crazy or he wouldn’t have come to me. While some of my tears were for him, I was likely thinking of my son who joined the Marines two years ago. “Dad, we’re learning to kill from 500 yards,” he wrote from boot camp, “Is it wrong to kill?”

I answered him with an ancient scripture: “There is a time to kill.” Sometimes we are compelled to eradicate evil with deadly force. In so doing, we run a risk of destroying our own moral fiber.

In the process tears will come. They are a way of protecting our core being. If we didn’t shed tears for such horrendous losses, we wouldn’t be human. That’s the simple difference between the “good guys” and the “bad guys” -- we cry when we are forced to use violence, they don’t.

As I considered my tears, it occurred to me that maybe they were proud tears. We were asking so much of our young heroes. Most of them knew the price they’d pay and many of them had overpaid. “You going to be alright?” my chaplain assistant asked as the office phone rang.

It was the ICU. The soldier who asked about the purpose of all this wanted to see me again.“I want you to pray, chaplain” he said. “I want you to pray for the insurgents that did this.”

“What should I pray?” I asked.The soldier responded by telling me to pray the prayer that Jesus prayed from the cross,” – “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

I’m not sure I’m finished crying.

Chaplain Norris returns home next month and will be available to do community speaking. Feel free to contact him at Norris@thechaplain.net or write him at Norris Burkes P.O. Box 19522 Sacramento CA 95819-0522

No matter where you stand on the war, our men and women (someones brother, son, nephew, father, husband) are putting their lives on the line because they chose to. They deserve our prayers and support. They make sacrifices everyday so that we don't have to. Many of them make the ultimate sacrifice.

We can not imagine the things that they see and live with everyday. Pray for their safety and that God gives them a way to process the things that they deal with. Next time you see a solider, offer them the honor and respect that they deserve.