Picture This
                                     (Author Unknown) 

                            I want you to close your eyes and picture
                            in your mind the soldier at
                            Valley Forge, as he holds his
                            musket in his bloody hands.

                            He stands barefoot in the snow,
                            starved from lack of food, wounded
                            from months of battle and emotionally
                            scarred from the eternity away
                            from his family surrounded by nothing
                            but death and carnage of war.

                            He stands tough, with fire in his
                            eyes and victory on his breath. He
                            looks at us now in anger and
                            disgust and tells us this...

                            I gave you a birthright of freedom
                            born in the Constitution and now
                            your children graduate too illiterate
                            to read it. I fought in the
                            snow barefoot to give you the freedom
                            to vote and you stay at home
                            because it rains.

                            I left my family destitute to give you
                            the freedom of speech and you
                            remain silent on critical issues,
                            because it might be bad for business.

                            I orphaned my children to give you
                            a government to serve you and it
                            has stolen democracy from the people.

                            It's the soldier not the reporter who gives
                            you the freedom of the press.

                            It's the soldier not the poet who
                            gives you the freedom of speech.

                            It's the soldier not the campus organizer
                            who allows you to demonstrate.

                            It's the soldier who salutes the flag,
                            serves the flag, whose coffin
                            is draped with the flag that allows
                            the protester to burn the flag!!!

                            "Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. 

                            Protect them as they
                            protect us. Bless them and their families
                            for the selfless acts they
                            perform for us in our time of need. Amen."

                            Prayer Wheel:

                            When you receive this, please stop for a
                            moment and say a prayer for
                            our U.S. ground troops in Afghanistan,
                            and the ones facing deployment
                            to Iraq at this very moment -
                            AND all over this world.

                            There is nothing attached....
                            This can be very powerful....
                            Just send this to all the people
                            in your address book.
                            Do not stop the wheel, please....

                            OF ALL THE GIFTS YOU COULD GIVE A SOLDIER
                            PRAYER IS THE VERY BEST ONE!!