Remember the Children of the Fallen

I saw a report today on NBC News about the number of American children who have lost a military parent serving in Iraq. Over 1,300 children will spend this Christmas without their fallen mother or father!

What do we say to these children? I don't think there are any appropriate words to say. "Thank-you", seems lacking and so far off the mark to say to a five or six-year old girl holding the U.S. flag from her mother's coffin. Sometimes words ring hollow no matter how sincere.

The picture above (from the Associated Press published in the San Diego Union-Tribune) was taken nearly three years ago (March 2004) at the funeral of 23-year old, Army Spc., Lori Piestwa, the first American service woman killed in Iraq. Her five-year old son, Brandon, and her four-year old daughter, Carla, carried flags at the beginning of her funeral procession. This will be their third Christmas without their mother.

Put your political views aside for a moment and just think what these 1,300+ kids have sacrificed. Whether you agree with the war or not, you cannot look them in the eye without wiping tears from your own. Every child ought to experience the love of a parent, especially at Christmas. Sadly, that's not the case for thousands of orphaned, abandoned, or abused children around the world. And it's not the case for these 1,300+ American children.

While words of sympathy for these children seem somewhat empty, there is something we can do for all of them. As you gather with the children in your family this Christmas, whether they are your grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or your own kids, hold hands and say a prayer for these children who have sacrificed so much. Pray that the same Spirit who filled, guided and protected Mary, the mother of our Lord, Jesus Christ, will also comfort, protect and guide these children. Pray for the safety and protection of soldiers everywhere. Pray that children everywhere who have lost parents to violence, from the Sudan to Iraq, will actually know the "peace" declared by the angel to the shepherds: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men."

Perhaps the greatest gift we can give to children around the world is the most expensive and difficult to achieve in a world of differences: real and lasting peace! They deserve it, we must strive for it!