In that compound, a man you have never met gave everything he had, so that YOU, have the freedom to think, speak, and act however you choose.
Paper may outline the foundation and principles of this nation, but it is blood that protects it. It would not hurt you to take a moment to think of the relentless drain on family, friends, and loved ones that are left behind. It would not hurt you to take a moment to respect the sacrifices that others make on your behalf, whether they share your opinions or not. Most will never understand the sacrifice required to keep men from that compound away from our doorstep, but it would not hurt you to try. You become quick to open your eyes, and slow to open your mouth. It would change the way you act, it would change the way you value, it would change the way you appreciate. I don’t wish those experiences on you, but I wish you had them. I am sorry you have never tasted the salt from your own tears, as you stand at a flag draped coffins, burying men you were humbled to call your friends. I am sorry you have never heard someone cry out for help, or cried out for help yourself, relying on the courage of others to bring you home. I am sorry that you have never felt the alarm bells ringing in your body, the combination of fear and adrenaline, as you move towards the fight, instead of running from it. I’m sorry that you have never smelled the breath of a man who wants to kill you. They don’t care how much you believe in diversity, equality, or freedom of speech. They don’t care if you sit on the left or the right, liberal or conservative, pacifist or a warrior.
They don’t care about your religious beliefs they don’t care about your political opinions. Our capacity for them is boundless, and is only dwarfed by their hatred for you. I know it may seem as if those things are currently missing, but they remain, and I know they will return. They don’t understand our compassion, our freedoms, and our tolerance. Those men don’t know me, they don’t know you, and they don’t know America. In that compound, they found men that pray five times a day for your destruction. In a country that most would struggle to find on a map, in a compound that few possess the courage to enter, men from my previous life took the fight to our enemy.
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