You may or may not know that my husband is a football coach. You also may or may not know that a football team spends the Friday night before a game in a hotel together. It matters not whether the game is home, or away. This keeps players accounted for and in bed on time. In order to keep the players occupied and out of trouble Friday night, a video is usually shown. My husband has sat through some lame movies on Friday nights in the Fall, but this past season he saw a movie that is now his favorite and he shared it with me this past weekend.
The movie is "Taking Chance." It's a true story (my favorite kind). It's about a soldier who is killed in Iraq. Soldiers who are killed in the line of duty are escorted home by another soldier. The respect and honor that is shown to these fallen soldiers is very moving. I highly recommend you see the movie. We even encouraged our children to watch with us. There is no violence and only one swear word. We have zero tolerance for swear words at our house but wanted to show them the men and women who are willing to fight and give their lives for the cause of freedom.
After the movie we had a great discussion. We acknowledged the great care that was taken of the body of this young man. The fallen are cleaned immaculately. They make a brand new uniform for them. This is all done even though much of the time, including this particular story, the body is not able to be viewed - even by the family.
We also acknowledged that if such respect is given to the body of the deceased, how much more reason we have to respect our bodies that are living! We agreed to negotiate a few things. To watch more closely what we put in our body. How we dress, modestly and not sloppily. That cleanliness is important. That exercise is a must and sleep is important. To make good choices in what we allow ourselves to look at, what we let into our mind.
I'm so thankful for the men and women who are willing to serve our country. I offer my condolences to the families of those who have fallen. I hope that even though I don't serve in uniform, in an official capacity, I can still emulate the respect and dignity that our service men and women exemplify.
Monday, January 18, 2010
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Hi there. I connected with your blog through cjane's post about your son.
ReplyDeleteI saw Taking Chance a while back. My husband is in Iraq. I love that you found this great message in the movie- to respect our bodies and minds while we are living,after seeing the care taken for the serviceman who passed.
I also loved this movie. I watched it when my husband was actually in Iraq. It was hard for me. So glad he is home now. Loved your insights into the movie.
ReplyDeleteHi there...I came over from Cjane, too. I'm a big fan of your family, evidently! I was so happy to see you (someone not directly related to the military) reference this movie. We are a military family, and this movie is very close to our hearts. My husband is a military Chaplain and just spent 6 months overseeing mortuary affairs for the fallen coming from Iraq and Afghanistan (to Kuwait) before making the journey home to their families. It was the most difficult and sacred thing he's done in his life. Both of us watched this movie (separately, while he was deployed) and both fell to pieces over it. He said it was very well done and accurate. It made me so proud and grateful to know what goes on behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I like your writing style and have a feeling I'll be lurking here. We are in Okinawa, Japan...so if you ever want a peak into what life is like over here, stop by sometime. Take Care!