Letter From Home for Christmas - Contest

To our troops
I'd like to say, first of all, that I am thankful to you. I don't care what branch you're in, what rank you are, or where you are, I am thankful....at least, I'd like to thank you but....my problem is putting itin to words. There's really no way to put down the words “thank you” and have it ever be enough or have it mean everything I want it so badly to mean.
My family is full of veterans and people who have military background. I grew up surrounded by it and wondering how I could possibly say thanks for what you did, not only for your family but your country as well. I can't just walk up to my grandpa and say “thank you for risking your life for us” because it doesn't seem right.....I can never put it into words so I just hug him and try to think of it another time.....well, I'm ready to try to put it into words now. And, while I'll never be able to get my heart out completely on this page, or even the next, I'm sure going to try.
If you want to look at it this way, I was in Vietnam too....even though my father wasn't even born and I was a long way away from even being thought of, I was there. My grandfather got Agent Orange...and from there my father got it and so did I. This entire thing is personal to me, not just because of my family but because I got it too. My other grandfather hurt his back and lost his hearing in Nam, and he's fighting to get help right now because they won't help him. It hurts me to realize how bad people hurt each other, especially after something like that. Risking their life for our freedom and the rest of this country spits on them, ignores their problems and ignores their family to. I've actually been meaning to write over, I really didn't care when. I really hope you get to read this letter and realize even though some think this is second nature, some don't even know what's happening, there's still people who know you guys are there.
I know how badly it hurts me and I can't even imagine life for them...and I know saying sorry to them can't even make up for anything as well as I know saying thank you to you who are serving doesn't wrap it all up. This has been going on for all of both of my little brother's lives....it's second nature for them now, they don't even react. I guess it might be easier when they're kids, but they can't figure out why the rest of us hurt so much because of it. I know I could never pretend to know what it feels like for you...and I will never try to. I know how bad it hurt both of my grandfathers and many other members of my family, and that's all I can go on. Isn't it funny....how at times like this we'll pray but the bombing of religious sites happens from time to time and we think nothing of it. Ironic, we don't seem to care about other people's religion, just ours. Maybe that's why it's called “Justice”? It's just us, and if you don't agree then to bad. Sad how I'm only 16 and figured out what so few older then me know.
Do what ever it takes to get home. I'm sure I'm not the first to tell you that and I'm sure I won't be the last, but I do mean it with all of my heart. I can't say or write just how important it is for you to get back here in one piece and alive. You sacrifice yourself and your life for your family and your country. The freedoms we have that we take for granted and some don't bother to thank you. I know from family and friends that, no matter what I say, it will never be enough to thank you.
I'll take the itching irritation of this rash I have constantly, KNOWING it will never go away and KNOWING it will likely be passed to any children I have in the future. I know what and where it's from and I know why it's there. It's here to remind me constantly of what you guys are doing and of what my grandfathers have already done. It's here to remind me to always be thankful even when others are not. It's here...and it's not going away. Not any time soon, anyways. And, should I have children, I will make sure they understand it the way I do and the way my father explained it to me. While I don't have words to say what I'm trying to say and what I need to say...I'm trying. This is a subject close to my heart and to the rest of my family....I know I can't make the pain go away, but I'm trying to get this all out of my heart. I know I never will, though, so just part....that will work just fine.
I still don't know why we insist on having wars to keep peace....seems kind of counter-productive to me. Maybe if we'd learn to mind our own business and not get involved in fights that aren't ours we just might save a few lives...but the choice is not mine. We're all waiting for you here, please don't end up six feet under. You go as soon as we give the orders and your loyal. I'm told not to let other people's death hang around me but I can't not block it out.
You're out there risking your lives for us and our freedoms which we take all for granted until a catastrophe happens and we're all humans for about a week or two. That sacrifice separates you heroes from us over here. Watching friends so close to be family killed and tortured...finding out about people here that you care about passing or ill, it takes a heroism which I can't ever comprehend. These close-minded people are to blind to see what you do and why you do what you do. I know it has to hurt, and I know sometimes these letters might just make it worse, reminding you of things you didn't want to remember. I can't say I even remotely know how it feels but I know how it feels to have your hull broken a few to many times....and it makes forming any sort of close bonds hard as heck, don't it?
To simply say the two little words “thank you” can never catch how I feel about everything you've done and are doing, but it's the only thing I can think of to say. So I say thank you...thank you for being a true warrior, a soldier, a hero who has no super powers....yet the biggest responsibility of all heroes. You have a country you protect and a list of freedoms you keep alive, and you have an entire country waiting for you to come home. What I say can't take the weight off of your shoulders, and I know I can't make the pain go away...a lot of my poems and stories are cold and dark but they're from the heart and that's rare, something you don't find a lot anymore. And, though darkly inspired I have, too, desired a way to reach out.
The more peace or freedom we want, the more wars fought. The more wars fought, the more lives ended for a reason most can't even remember. Why do we fight...I don't even remember any more. The term “war-created enemy” fits this perfectly. We have no reason to hate each other, we're just told to and do as we're told. I've been told by many that my actions are those of a child but my mind is that of someone much older...I don't quite understand how no one else seems to see this pattern, I think it's rather easy to see. Maybe everyone else is just to blind to see, to busy doing and thinking as they're told to and order to by the older people. Sad but true....I refuse to be blinded by orders, so I will say thank you, and I will keep trying to think of better ways to say what I actually want to say but am not equipped to say just yet.
(P.S: u can use for any of the things you have listed. i did start when i 1st posted but, like the letter says, i couldn't put it in2 words)