I don’t know how extensively this Christian Science Monitor commentary has spread through the blogosphere yet, but it certainly deserves a wide reading. Luke Larson, who served two tours in Iraq as a Marine lieutenant, writes about the heroic service of his friend, Bronze Star winner Shaun Blue. The scene in a neighborhood pub after Blue’s funeral is powerful. So is the conclusion:
Five years after the start of the Iraq war, and a year after Blue’s death on April 16, I feel we are obligated to the Iraqi people and the rest of the world to not hastily abandon what we have invested so much in. I truly believe America can be an agent for change. I have often asked myself: If we pull out, what type of future would we be allowing to come about?
Sometimes I feel alone in my reasoning. That day in Munster I did not. That day I was proud to be a marine and proud to be an American.
I like to think that if the streets of heaven are guarded by marines, as the Marines’ hymn suggests, that 1st Lieutenant Shaun Blue is now forever walking the lines of the perimeter checking on the marines defending their eternal post.