Freedom is not free.... A poem... Please read

[sean2002]

This is a poem someone was handing out at the fireworks, I thought I would share it with all of you.

Freedom is not free.

I watched the flags pass by one day
it fluttered in the breeze
A young Marine saluted it.
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud:
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowed.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers tears.

How many pilot's planes shot down ?
How many died at sea ?
How many foxholes were soldiers graves ?
No. Freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of taps one night
When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play,
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant "Amen",
When a flag had covered a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children
of mothers and the wives
Of fathers, sons, and husbands,
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington
No. Freedom is not free.




Just some thing to think about

 

[Pretender]

what's the point of this?

 

[arod]

pretty cool poem....

 

[TaylorD]

i respect your right to freedom of speech.

but don't you think this kind of insults the sacrifices made for this country by veterans? we are free because they gave their lives.


just my $0.02

 

[Whisper]

I think that's the point the poem was trying to get across...Freedom came at the cost of the lives of so many young men. My guess is that it was meant to make everyone take some time and think about all those people who've suffered so that we can have what we do today.

Take out of it what you will; that's just the message I got.

 

[TaylorD]

i dont know, i guess it seems different to each person who reads it...

i got the impression that the writer intended to say the deaths of the veterans were not honorable or justifiable.

I guess if its saying that freedom comes at the costs of all of these veterans lives, then I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[JediKnut]

Wow. That really is a beautiful poem! If you're interested in submitting it to a Poetry site, I know a few which would be interested! E-mail for details if ya want!

 

[Elledan]

Freedom is an illusion.

 

[Linflas]

<< Freedom is an illusion. >>


Tell that to the people living in some of the despotic hell holes found on this planet. I worked with a guy from Cambodia that at the age of 6 was stuck in a rice paddy as a virtual slave until age 10 or so. I bet he might give you a pretty good argument about what is an illusion and what is not.

 

[Urinal Mint]

<< Freedom is an illusion. >>


If you don't like it, go live in Afghanistan.

 

[Elledan]

<<

<< Freedom is an illusion. >>


Tell that to the people living in some of the despotic hell holes found on this planet. I worked with a guy from Cambodia that at the age of 6 was stuck in a rice paddy as a virtual slave until age 10 or so. I bet he might give you a pretty good argument about what is an illusion and what is not. >>

Someone can be free in a way that he/she isn't controlled by the Government/some organization or group of people, but nearly dies of starvation because he must take care of himself and his family. Is he free? No, he must take care of himself and his family.
Another man is free in the same way as the first man, and he has no family. Is he free? Free of everything? Free of obligations? No, he's not. He makes appointments with various people and must always provide his body with food.

We're all slaves, not only slaves of the system we live in (even in a democracy), but slaves of ourselves and others as well.

Total freedom is a lie. Freedom is an illusion. If you stare long enough at it, you might begin to believe that it's real, that you're free to do anything, but you're not.

We are slaves.

 

[Elledan]

<<

<< Freedom is an illusion. >>


If you don't like it, go live in Afghanistan. >>

Another system, another army of slaves.

 

[Urinal Mint]

When you find Utopia, let us know.


<<

<<

<< Freedom is an illusion. >>


If you don't like it, go live in Afghanistan. >>

Another system, another army of slaves. >>

 

[Elledan]

Perfection (Utopia) is a curse and can fortunately enough not be reached by anyone or anything.

 

[Tauren]

Thanks for the poem. I have never lost a loved one in a war, but my family has been in the armed Forces:

Grandfather: Army
Father: Airforce
Mother: Airforce
Brother: Marines