Independence and Slavery Blog Chain

The July2012 Blog Chain theme at Absolute Write is Independence and Slavery. I hope you enjoy!

Young Fursious felt his calling to be of greatness and might. He found his heart called into the service of Lord Belphegore, God of Battle, Rage and Fire.

He approached with vigor and arrogance. He fought hard and he was dutiful in his worship to the Lord. But, his loyalty to the faith was not enough for he often found himself faced with failure. This was too much for young Fursious and so he sank into deep depression, turning his back to the Lord. He sought the comfort of complacency and peace so that he might nurture his wounded soul.

Lord Belphegore cast down his fury onto this mortal and demanded that he look deep inside and find his spark to fight these demons who weakened his mind and destroyed his hopes. Sorrow and self-pity were not welcome in Lord Belphegore’s church.

Fursious drew inspiration from Lord Belphegore and found his path once again. He learned fast and discovered his inner strength. 

Sorrow, oh sweet sorrow for myself has been my prison and the shackles of my soul. I will not let it stand in the way of serving my Lord. I shall prove to be worthy. I will unleash the fury that shall set me free from this bondage of self-doubt. I will fight again.

Lord Belphegore welcomed this mortal back into His church, proud as any God would be.

In response, Fursious cried out, “I will not be oppressed by my sorrows!"

And with that goal in mind, Fursious set out to rise above and prove that he can strive and be on top.

Fursious fought honorably, he fought with conviction, and he stayed true to all the ethical standards that were ingrained within his heart and taught from his youth. He fought with all the fury that burned in his soul, and the confidence in knowing that his life was not for nothing.

In the end, he did not have the riches that he’d sought as a young man. But on his death bed, he felt his heart swell. He was finally happy. Tears, not of sorrow, but of glory, flowed down his cheeks.

He had won the battle, for beside his bed were all those he inspired in life and the numbers were great and more than he'd ever imagined.

If you enjoyed this month's theme, please visit the following participants and their posts:

Participants and posts:

orion_mk3 -  (link to this month's post)

knotanes -  (link to this month's post)

meowzbark -  (link to this month's post)

Ralph Pines -  (link to this month's post)

randi.lee -  (link to this month's post)

writingismypassion -  (link to this month's post)

pyrosama -  (YOU ARE HERE)

bmadsen -  (link to this month's post)
Poppy - (link to this month's post)

areteus -  (link to this month's post)

Sweetwheat -  (link to this month's post)
Tex_Maam - (link to this month's post)
MelodySRV -  (link to this month's post)

Tomspy77 -  (link to this month's post)
dclary -  (link to this month's post)
ThorHuman -  (link to this month's post)

Fighting For Freedom

I thought a lot about our military and the meaning of freedom this Fourth of July weekend. My son is now 22 years old and home to enjoy the festivities. I do appreciate his service in the US Army and his one-year tour in Iraq, but he is out now and I can breathe more easily.

My father and my husband both served over 22 years each in the US Marine Corps and both retired to enjoy second careers. Therefore, I know I am bias and my appreciation does not necessarily reflect the same as all Americans, but I wanted to mention my family and their patriotism, because yesterday, during a pool party at my house, there was a discussion about military service. Of course there was, it was Independence Day!

I told everyone about an incident which happened when my son came home for a brief visit after a tour in Iraq. He went out with a group of friends to a local bar and someone accused him of being a baby killer because he was a US soldier. I was shocked. When he got off the plane and entered the terminal in his military uniform, most people clapped and thanked him for his service. Even another woman's eyes filled with tears when I gave my son a hug.

Why would anyone call my son a baby killer? Is our country so divided by politics that we cannot even thank those who fight for our freedom, or is freedom something so obscure anymore that we all believe it to be a right with which we were born? We do not have a right to this freedom automatically. There are soldiers who have died in order that we are able to enjoy the freedoms that we do have, and there are soldiers that must still fight and die for our country if we are to remain free.

Our freedom is not ours simply because we pay our taxes and a portion of that money goes to pay for this military. We have our freedom from serving in the military ourselves because the men and women of our military served so that we did not have to.

If you ever hear someone refer to one of our military soldiers as a baby killer, please remind them of those brave men and women who fought and even died so we could have these freedoms today. Should one day our military become weak from the unpatriotic voices of those who do not appreciate these freedoms, I hope you pray to your God when our enemies pierce the boundaries of America and destroy our families.

You might never appreciate something until you no longer have it. What a world that would be...