Post WWII Generations Unique and Similar Missions for Veterans' Day Weekend
Image via Wikipedia
“When you sing your song all of nature will join in to bless you in your mission here on earth, to help you with your service here on earth.” – Charley Thweatt, Wave After Wave CD
Each of us is different, just like each snowflake crystal is unique, unmatched in all the universe.
(They say that water which is prayed over, or exposed to positive thought, forms different chains of crystals.)*
Frozen Water Crystal, prayed over
Why are both of these thoughts so comforting?
I am not entirely alone, adrift, unlike any other, I belong.
I am special, created by my Creator in his image, yet I am not built exactly like any other.
Scientists can tell us that this uniqueness is the result of infinite genetic possibilities, each human unique like a snowflake. Inside my snowflake self live the same deepest wishes and desires as everyone else: to love and be loved, to be safe and provide safety, to be productive.
So I am uniquely equipped to live out the universal human faith-mission: to love and be loved, to be safe and provide safety, to be productive.
On this Veteran’s Day weekend I think of the legacy of World War II veterans, those who lost their lives in WWII, and those of us left free after war. Free to ponder our parents’ and grandparents’ anxiety and worry. Free to contemplate if unique water crystal formations are for real (see note below). Free to contemplate that snow crystals also are beautiful, created by our Creator.
Contemplate this legacy statement:
“…open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for the harvest….others have done the hard work. You have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
John 4:35, 38 NIV
(from the red print, Christ’s words)
Mission for veterans abound.
Time magazine recently wrote about the New Greatest Generation, returning Iraq veterans.
Here are statements of either mission, or the source of mission:
a peace-time statement, made possible by those who fought and fight for our freedom
To remember where I have been and where I will go through maintaining positive relationships with family and friends. To choose the ethical way by making a personal commitment to honesty and integrity. To find peacefulness within myself by looking inward while using my heart to guide my dreams and desires, and my mind to pursue knowledge, creating balance among all of my obligations. To content myself in my surroundings so I will always know where security lies within my life. To build a reputation of being dedicated to every goal I choose to pursue while having successes in both my personal and professional life. To enjoy every moment along this journey finding laughter, love, and happiness with each day that passes.
Time Magazine, August 2011, Greatest Generations’s Mission Foundation
“No decision you’ll ask them to make will be harder than decisions they’ve already made. No amount of pressure you put on them will equal the pressures they’ve already experienced.”
my own mission statement’s foundation
Wanting to heal trauma, to seek joy, to find faith and meaning came to me as a daughter and granddaughter of a Dutch-American family who lived through the 1930’s and 1940’s. For my parents and grandparents, The Great Depression and World War II, brought trauma and loss.
What is your mission? Tell me.
And what is the harvest we reap from civilian and combat veterans?
For me it is that deep knowledge that trauma either creates bitterness (temporarily or permanently), a frozen silence – not like lovely ice crystals at all (temporarily or permanently), or a glow-spiritual strength which comes from overcoming, not in hardened determination, but in surrender. Sometimes surrender leads to liberation, and then to a sense of mission.
One of my missions is to try to tell my story and others’….In the process I discover time and time again, that fighting, victory, a different kind of surrender, ultimately leads to liberation. Again, tell me your mission.
*the author researched sites extensively to see if Matsuro Emoto’s prayer-and-water crystals research has been replicated. Thus far, although his work has proven difficult to replicate, it has not been proven false.
