Patriotism. What does that mean to you?
For many it is a simple word heard all through childhood. Some think patriotism is going through the motions of a celebration for “Independence” is all a part of being “an American”. What comes to mind is marshmallow salad with coconut and of course the watermelon!!!! Others are solemn and have a family member who gave a life or a lifetime of devotion for our freedom. I have a family of such devotion. Both my uncles and father served in the Air Force. This was never a very discussed subject but all involved would be the first to tell you about their time spent as enlisted men. I remember Nana and the telegrams between her and daddy.
Recently I found these and letters to home from my father while stationed in France. Fortunately there was not a war while my father served our country, but the need to communicate back home was ever present in his penmanship to my grandmother. A sense of longing to be back on American soil was unmistakably felt in his words to home.
As an artist, I meet and have found many friends to whom the military has been a calling, much like the feelings i have for my craft as a photographer. These exceptional people are special for many reasons and certainly deserving of special recognition for their time, talents and considerable devotion to the protection and preservation of our values as a country. I recently met one such man while on a shoot for my breast cancer calendar in Austin, Texas. The family is in every way a typical “American” family and our soldier’s name is Clark T. Maxwell.
We visited for a while and I spoke with him about our current involvement in the middle east and his thoughts were on support. I agreed. Even if we don’t always like the decisions made, we are sending the wrong message to our troops when we oppose or forget they are there. That message is of distrust and disloyalty to those willing to die for which we live each day. We are a very blessed set of people to be born unto this land and have the opportunities that others around the world are denied. He spoke of the simple, yet forgotten art of letter writing. NOT emailing….sorry!, but the cute stationary sprayed with perfume and stickers to match, kind of letter writing! (Well maybe that is going a little too far!, but you all know what I mean!) Although he is stationed outside of Galveston and will soon be stationed overseas, he often writes to his friends in Iraq. In fact, he made a point to tell me of how simple and yet important the letters of support are to these guys! His most important message is to start a “letter writing campaign”.
“In today’s fast paced society we have forgotten the art and love of letter writing. Our parents and grandparents used to use eloquent words to connect with and show their love for each other. As a sailor I came to realize how much a hand written letter from home meant. Although I could get email I always look forward to mail call. There is no way to replicate the emotions and love that poor out of a hand written letter. I will carry them with me and read them again and again to feel the love from a family member, a friend, a loved one, a cute girl back home, and some times its nice to know a complete stranger is proud of you and thankful for you just being there doing your job. A hand written letter from home is worth more than money can buy, its being rich in love.”
Letters are precious from family and affirming from strangers. He said that many people never realize that these guys will carry and read for weeks just one letter! When you think of all the other things that must be going on, the simple act of reading takes them to a place called home. Getting a message out or asking our children to thank them and sending these would mean more than anything to them. I told him I would try to let everyone I know how important the letters were to his buddies in Iraq.
As I prepared my notes and thought about my column this month, I immediately thought about yet another officer. Back in December, my friend and client came to see me and she finally brought her husband who had been away at war. We spoke of the situation there and I was shocked at how changed my twenty-something client was. He had a sadness and a wisdom that few possess at such an early age. Almost all of his platoon had been killed in Iraq. He told me of terrible things that I believed we as mankind should have been well past committing, in 2007 anyway. There are certain things that war does that transforms people back into animals….fighting just to survive. He was seeing me for two reasons. He wanted to thank me because the initial “introduction of his beautiful baby girl was made through my eyes as the family’s artist. I captured and sent him the initial portraits and he had clung to these through some of his most difficult of times. I also want to capture him with his baby girl. He wanted to make sure I had recorded him with her because he had made the difficult decision to reenlist and go back to Iraq to “finish what we started”. Wow. I remember thanking him. I told him thank you for defending the freedom of my children and protecting all of us from harm. He wept.
Capturing him for his daughter was difficult. I kept thinking what I do is so important. These images…my craft, well outlives us as individuals. There is a permanence of portraits. A life stamped into paper to record a soul, a relationship… a father’s dedication to one’s country. The only fitting words for such a moment was a simple and most thoughtful gratitude and thanks. He is an “American” in every sense of that word. How special we should all feel to be privileged enough to have a man lay down his life, risk his life and spend his precious youth defending our country. One day his daughter will be so so proud! So, as we begin to make the usual fourth of July party plans and we BBQ and enjoy the afternoon sun with friends and family….hearing the distant gleeful screams of our children playing safely; let us all stop and really express our gratitude for our troops and to take the time to teach our children what it really means to be an American.
This year, from the example of my wonderful clients and soldiers I am sending them letters and images of “home”. I ask that you take a moment and with a pen and paper make a note of something ( a poem, a simple thought or two or a drawing from a child…really anything will do!) and send it to the troops. They will feel loved and cherished and our children will feel good about doing something productive to support those doing the business of protecting our freedom.
Irregardless of how any of us feel about the war, the letters should be a way to support and send love to those in harms way. In this way we can make a difference uplifting a soldier and teaching our children what it really means to be PATRIOTIC! Please check the website www.alisamurray.com for details on how to send a soldier a letter during Alisa’s Support Our Troops 2007 Campaign.
Enjoy your Independence!
