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Freedom
Tomorrow would be his seventeenth birthday
Tomorrow he knew they would come for him
The two men that always came
And just for a moment he thought
What if I just ran away
But deep down he already knew the answer
For if they came
These men that were sent to give him a chance
A chance to “join” the military”
Would kill everyone in the house
If he wasn’t home
No tomorrow he would become a man
Tomorrow he would be given his first gun
Later he got a letter from his father
He and his wife had made plans to find safety
He was to take the first opportunity to escape
Escape the terrorist training camp he had been sent to
Days later he did
Weeks later he first set foot on American soil
He never heard from his parents again
Another man stood before his students
He tried to explain to them why it was that he cried
Each and every time he said “The Pledge of Allegiance”
He told them of when he was ten
He told them how the men in new uniforms
Came to his school
How they drug the teachers out into the courtyard
How they made the students watch
As they shot them one by one
He told them how he cried
As they set fire to the school
And sent him home
He told them how his father
Sealed him in a box
How his uncle placed the box on the boat
The boat that brought him to this country
After he finished his story
All of us understood
For weeks afterward we joined him
Our tears and words together
Changed “The Pledge” for me
For the rest of my life
Both of these men I was lucky enough to have met
Lucky enough to have been able to really get to know
Each of them was in their own way so different
So different from each other
So different from me
But these two men
And yes
Several others I have met that shared similar stories
Have taught me something
A lesson that here I hope to somehow share with you
The true meaning of a single word
One that so many times we use without truly understanding
One that we should thank God every day
That we never have to learn in a way
That these people did
Just how important it is
What a true gift that we have been given
To have
Freedom
Ed Roberts 5/8/04
Tomorrow would be his seventeenth birthday
Tomorrow he knew they would come for him
The two men that always came
And just for a moment he thought
What if I just ran away
But deep down he already knew the answer
For if they came
These men that were sent to give him a chance
A chance to “join” the military”
Would kill everyone in the house
If he wasn’t home
No tomorrow he would become a man
Tomorrow he would be given his first gun
Later he got a letter from his father
He and his wife had made plans to find safety
He was to take the first opportunity to escape
Escape the terrorist training camp he had been sent to
Days later he did
Weeks later he first set foot on American soil
He never heard from his parents again
Another man stood before his students
He tried to explain to them why it was that he cried
Each and every time he said “The Pledge of Allegiance”
He told them of when he was ten
He told them how the men in new uniforms
Came to his school
How they drug the teachers out into the courtyard
How they made the students watch
As they shot them one by one
He told them how he cried
As they set fire to the school
And sent him home
He told them how his father
Sealed him in a box
How his uncle placed the box on the boat
The boat that brought him to this country
After he finished his story
All of us understood
For weeks afterward we joined him
Our tears and words together
Changed “The Pledge” for me
For the rest of my life
Both of these men I was lucky enough to have met
Lucky enough to have been able to really get to know
Each of them was in their own way so different
So different from each other
So different from me
But these two men
And yes
Several others I have met that shared similar stories
Have taught me something
A lesson that here I hope to somehow share with you
The true meaning of a single word
One that so many times we use without truly understanding
One that we should thank God every day
That we never have to learn in a way
That these people did
Just how important it is
What a true gift that we have been given
To have
Freedom
Ed Roberts 5/8/04
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Freedom
Freedom