No news for me today...(ramblings!)

*****Warning: This IS a rambling***** ^j^
Many years ago, in one of my first journalism classes, the prof went round the room and asked what each of us saw ourselves doing 5 years from that date. My response then? "I am going to be a foreign correspondant, telling those stories of the children that are not being told."

Prior to that I had been priviledged to work in an inner city school, here in Canada. It was my honour to meet and work with two little boys. One Serb, one Croat. Both different sides of the conflict, their families had made their way to us, escaping the horror of their homeland as refugees. Fresh from the violence, and not speaking much English at all, these two 8 year old boys shared with me the horrors of their young lives. Both were thrilled to know that this 'strange' woman was intimately familiar with their country, because I had lived there and fallen in love with the land and its people. As we talked, I found they had the same names, the same loves(they were both passionate Michael Jordan fans!) and as they shared, they discovered that their family fates almost exactly mirrored each others. Both had grandmothers who suffered heart attacks within the melee, both fathers had been dragged off to camps, both had professional mothers, who obviously adored their little ones. Both had younger sisters.

I think of these little boys often. Especially as I look at pictures on some sites of coalition soldiers meeting and laughing with children stuck in the violence of Iraq, Afghanistan. I think of these little boys as I read the tributes of the fallen heroes which we sent to these far off lands to defend these young lives; to offer these children a chance at a life free from tyranny. I cannot think of these little boys (teens now I am sure!) without thinking of the Mike Stockeley's as little boys. The names I get on an all too regular basis of those fallen heroes, as part of my commitment to the Living Legends team at SoldiersAngels.

I thought of those two boys - who I will always love dearly - again last night, as I found a link to a story about the children left behind as their parent/s perished on 9/11 five years ago. And again I weep for these beloved sons and daughters who, I read, mirror their lost parents exactly in looks and mannerisms. I think about the other children those lost parents will not have. I think about the children our fallen sons and daughters will now never conceive. And I weep. Every parent dreams of the legacy their children will leave. My prayer is that the legacy of the families of the Stokeleys and the many other families of the fallen heroes, will be that others children WILL be free to live fearless lives of freedom, lives of choice, lives of gratitude to be living in a free society.

Every soldier, who gives all, is someone's child, someone's beloved baby taken too soon from us. Every child who is the living legacy of someone lost on 911, and in the ensuing five year's aftermath, will have many challenges. My prayer is that we reach out to every child directly touched by tragedy and wars and remind them we are ALL family. One family under God.

So, today, no tv or radio or newspapers for me. It is a day of quiet reflection; a day of thanks, a day of resolve, a day of renewed determination.

"Every child is one of our own." God knows them all, even if we do not....and blesses them, and us, by their gifts.