"No one can make you stand."
She said.
"You don't NEED to stand."
She said
"It's okay that they didn't stand."
She said.
"Yes you do."
I told. Silence for a month and
"You need to."
I told her.
She raised her voice and snapped back a
"No you don't."
"Not if you don't believe in it."
.
What?
You don't believe in it?
Believe in what?
Believe in history?
Believe in the Present?
Believe in the future?
"Not everyone supports the Veterans."
She told me.
A tight smile, frozen onto my face.
"How?"
I was born into a Military family.
I grew up hundreds of miles away from my closest Aunt or Uncle.
I have yet to have met all of my cousins at age 13.
Grandma and Grandpa weren't words that come to mind in my past,
And my brother is in Japan doing who-knows-what.
I lost my Father in Afghanistan- his body alive but his mind- his soul.
Gone forever.
I lost my childhood because daddy wasn't a daddy as a kid because of that flag and I had to figure out this life thing by the side of my mother. A wonderful person, but still as everyone else- flawed.
She'd always do her best but she couldn't be it all.
So when I'm sad about what I lost,
I look to the flag.
The flag.
That flows in the wind.
The flag.
That holds my ancestors in it's stripes.
The flag.
That has both ruined my life and given me something to fight for.
The flag.
That has stood for generations upon generations-
That holds history in it's stars.
That flag.
IS my history.
It is everything my blood has stood for- it is EVERYTHING- that my family has done for-
And not only mine- HUNDREDS more.
HUNDREDS more sisters standing at their brother's funerals.
HUNDREDS more brothers listening with tear-filled eyes as they're told they'll never see their sisters again.
HUNDREDS of other mothers being told that they'll never see their children, or husbands again, and THOUSANDS more losing their lives.
And so when you say that you don't need to stand for THAT FLAG.
You are ignoring the blood shed.
The fallen bodies.
The cracked skulls and broken bones that REAL PEOPLE have suffered for YOU.
For YOUR future.
For YOUR life.
For YOUR unborn children who will grow up with their feet planted firmly on this promised land.
THEY DID THIS ALL.
FOR.
YOU.
And all they ask is for a moment of respect.
So don't you DARE say that you don't need to stand.
That you have the right to speak in the moment of silence.
That you don't need to put your hand across your heart and pledge your allegiance to that flag.
And
Don't you dare tell me.
That it's okay.
That people.
"Don't support Veterans."
I don't know what to say about that lol, basically I'm just pissed at this girl who talked crap about the flag and stuff at school today, and this is all the stuff I didn't have time or energy to scream at her at the time. I'm gonna talk to her about it tomorrow though. Wish her luck.
YOU ARE READING
Mostly my rambling on my horrible love life
Poetry**previously Poems, Thoughts, and Everything in Between** Rants and silent screams. It sort of follows a story though. I once had a best friend I fell for, and... you'll see how that played out. It goes off of that topic every once and a while but m...
