A Greater Gift

Poets United Think Tank #98 "Honor"

"No person was ever honored for what he recieved.  Honor has been the reward for what he gave."

~Calvin Coolidge

This life is a gift of many luxuries and hardships

that we receive freely like roses from a lover's hand.

We reach out and accept each package

until one day a little boy turns into a bigger man.

Soon the choices that lay before him

have a heavier price to pay.

What has been handed to him in the past

becomes a greater gift to give away.

All the blessings we take for granted

he gives up when he accepts a soldier's creed.

He fights a bigger battle for the many

beyond one man's hopes and one man's dreams.

This life is a gift of many joys and adversities

that we receive freely like stars on a cloudless night.

Yet the freedoms we hold to enjoy this bounty

is a greater gift that always holds a greater price.

There are many things that we take for granted in this life.  Gifts that we enjoy every day.  From a beautiful sunrise to a starlit sky our eyes are filled with many wonders, like presents in an open hand.  Yet, the busy world we live in has a way of obstructing our view, causing our struggle to keep up the pace to steal away our gratitude.  We forget that the freedoms that we enjoy have given us the rights we so take for granted on a daily basis.  These same freedoms were given to us in the ultimate sacrifice of bravery and that is a greater gift than we could ever repay.  I know that Memorial Day has come and gone again as it does every year, but I hope that we all will consider those brave souls both living and layed to rest and always honor them every day of the year.