Every Friday there is a ceremony held in the chapel of the hospital where there is a presentation of the service members who have successfully completed the treatment program, after 4 to 5 weeks. There are several parts to the “commencement” including the presentation of the Quilts of Valor to those soldiers who have been effected by their experience in combat and they are given beautiful quilts made by grateful people all over the country; the ceremony is now opened by me, as the Medical Director and I have been known to read some of my favorite poems and to speak about the strength and beauty of metaphors, of the process of change, and I always add my favorite aphorisms: first is “define your self by all your possibilities, not by limitations” and of course – stress is inevitable, the struggle is optional. Several times a therapist in the program by the name of Mike Morgan, a veteran of the Navy, reads the poem, author unknown, called Freedom’s Source, and I think it sums up what this blog is all about and worth reading before telling more of Eddie’s story.
Freedom’s Source:
It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag…who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag… who allows the protester to burn the flag.
Were it not for the brave… there would be no land of the free.