When we were young
and we had fun
‘a playing all the day,
the cost of laughter
(‘o so great)
was very far away.

Now older we

sit in threes
all talking on the phone,
the cost of freedom
(which rings in our ears)
has hit close to home.
And with that in mind,
we may find
the difference in the life
(of those who try and those who dare and those who sit in strife.)

Now poetry is
Ones and threes all lined up in a row,
We’ve settled down,
Not behaving like clowns,
and this is how it goes.


President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said at his Inaugural address “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” To me, fear is living in a world where nothing is possible. Fear is living in a world where everything is possible. But most of all, fear is living in a world where freedom is denied, where I can’t speak. Thanks to the people who fight, freedom is possible. Thanks to the people who fight, my fear will never become a reality.
I have a vivid memory from when I was 5 with my parents and siblings in our small motorboat. We were out on the bay, and all the kids were at the front watching the water fly by while the radio played. “I… I won’t worry my life away… oh, oh, oh, I… I won’t worry my life away… oh, oh, oh!”¹ At that point, life wasn’t math sheets or picture books or walking in lines. I wasn’t worried about the report due Tuesday or any he-said-she-said. It was those waves and I taking on the world together. But now, when I look back at that glorious moment, I realize that my initial thoughts were wrong. Something else more important had been there, something more important than maybe anything that happened that day, more important than the memory itself. Behind the curtain of my mind rested freedom, a quiet part of my life that radiated comfort and safety, that assuaged my fears. Freedom is sustained by soldiers and diplomats, presidents and governors. Everyone has a piece of freedom inside them; a quiet thing that almost isn’t there, that assures them quietly that above all else, it is possible. Thanks to soldiers and veterans, freedom will always be there.

  I’m not much of a Patriot. I’m not in love the ‘The American Spirit’ and whatnot. But the people who go the farthest are the people who think, who try, who do. The people that fight for what they believe in are the people that are making the most out of life. I guess that is what being ‘American’ is all about.