Thoughts on sacrifice

Sacrifice still exists everywhere, and everywhere the elect of each generation suffers for the salvation of the rest.
Henri Frederic Amiel

I started thinking about the meaning of sacrifice as I was watching the first episode of the HBO series, The Pacific, about World War II. I wish the brave young men who gave up their lives for the freedom of the United States could know what they did.

I think about all those who sacrifice their worldly comforts to help others in third world countries and right here at home, including the Doctors Without Borders, the Peace Corps volunteers, and the loyal men and women of Habitat for Humanity.

I think about uneducated mothers and fathers who work long and hard so their sons and daughters can go to college…

about sisters who take care of their brothers when their moms die “prematurely”…

about friends who give up their kidneys…

about Tom Jefferson and the other Fathers of our country, without whom there would be no country…

about daughters who give up their careers to help their ailing mothers.

I also think about those who only think of themselves. Where would they be without their fellow men and women who think otherwise?


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0 Responses to “Thoughts on sacrifice”

  1. Aaron Ng says:

    honour their sacrifice

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  2. Duchesse says:

    My father, a physician, commanded a MASH unit in the Pacific during WWII and returned skeletal, with all his teeth rotted, malaria etc. From that time on, he was an ardent pacifist. He did not speak to me about what he experienced, but said that in his obituary he would like us to mention that he served his country in the Pacific theater for over three years. I have his wartime letters to my mother, in which he said, “It is hard, but one day we’ll look back and be proud of what we did.”

    He enlisted on the day after Pearl Harbour; he was over 40 then. What a guy.

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  3. ClaireOKC says:

    I think most of those people who thought of others, do know, and mostly were often placed in circumstances in which they had no other choice other than to sacrifice in order to complete their task, role, part in their lives.

    It’s when we have to think about it that it gets hard…that’s why I really admire our founding fathers who although were pushed by such unfair and inhumane treatment to do something about it, would have simply settled for just a modicum of understanding and a little show of graciousness. Which is why they had to carefully think out…as the words, “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,…. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” show. What eloquent and beautifully crafted words. How do you explain your revolt?… insurrection… disloyalty to an institution that gave you birth? Our founding fathers were so concerned about this, that they had to explain themselves as best they could. Jefferson was such an excellent wordsmith!

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