Can you spare "a pittance of time" on Veterans Day?

A Canadian minister, RevIan from Quebec, turned me on to something I think worthy of sharing here and especially applicable this Veterans day as our men and women serve overseas.  Although geared for Canadians, I think it appropriate for American veterans too.

Can you spare "a pittance of time" for our vets?

More about the video, the song's lyrics and Terry Kelly, the artist behind the music, can be found here.

May God bless our veterans.

Lyrics:

They fought and some died for their homeland
They fought and some died now it’s our land
Look at his little child, there’s no fear in her eyes
Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?

Take two minutes, would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It’s a pittance of time

God forgive me for wanting to strike him
Give me strength so as not to be like him
My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips
My throat wants to bawl out, my tongue barely resists

But two minutes I will bide
It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It’s a pittance of time

Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home
They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own
There’s a price to be paid if you go, if you stay
Peace is fought for and won in numerous ways

Take two minutes would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls all over
May we never forget our young become vets
At the end of the line it’s a pittance of time

It takes courage to fight in your own war
It takes courage to fight someone else’s war
Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell
They bring hope to foreign lands that the hatemongers can’t kill.

Take two minutes, would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who go over
In peacetime our best still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line.
It’s a pittance of time

In Peace may they rest, lest we forget why they died.
Take a pittance of time

UPDATE: Leslie has beautifully paid tribute to our veterans in a post she's called 'Lest we forget':

Miracles do happen. On Wednesday I had the privilege of taking part in an early Remembrance Day service at a junior high school. There, nearly 400 twelve, thirteen & fourteen year olds stood with arms at sides in a Two Minute Silence. Precious few things hold such reverence for today's nihilistic teenager.

On stage stood a WWII veteran who is clearly showing signs of age and, even though all these years have passed, is still visibly moved by it all. He will never forget. He and his generation were made of steel with hearts of gold.

I don’t supposed the kids really realized the depth of what they were to remember. How can any of us? As I stood at the back of the gym watching this honorable man through a stand of the iPods and piercing generation, I was struck by the distance of perspective. He knew what was important and why. He had looked into the face of evil and lived.

Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica says:

Those who wage war justly aim at peace, and so they are not opposed to peace, except to the evil peace...We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace.

May their iPods never soothe them to the point of settling for evil peace.

UPDATE II: Via a coworker here in the office comes this link to a most moving and particularly poignant musical tribute to our veterans.  Don't miss Before You Go. Just don't.  Here's a little background to the piece:

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood. Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach, Fla. , eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event. 

He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly. 

At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you."

Then the old soldier began to cry. 

"That really got to me," Bierstock says. 

Cut to today.

Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach – a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band – have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The   mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.

"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "Every ethnic minority would be dead. And the soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."

Comments

[Carey]

Thank you for remembering Veterans Day; many have served and lost their lives (literally or through loss accrued while on Active Duty). It is important to stop and reflect upon this day, regardless of political affiliation or personal belief!

[Neil MacNeill]

Terry Kelly has captured in in words and song the great injustice that has been done to Veterans since we withdrew from South Vietnam. The political foment of that time failed to discriminate between the military personnel who were doing their duty, and the politics of foreign wars.

Just listening to this song, and the equally poignant songs of Eric Bogle (And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda) and John Schuman (I was on 19- http://www.schumann.com.au/john/lyrics.html)still brings tears to my eyes.

Neil MacNeill, SVN, 1967-8.

[W Brown]

THIS is the only response I can offer up at this time. I lost an uncle I never met, on the beaches of Normandy. (D-Day).......

In Flanders fields the poppies grow,
between the crosses, row on row;
That mark our place.
And in the sky, the lark, still
bravely singing flys,scarest heard
amidst the guns below.
We are the dead; short days ago,
we lived,saw dawn, felt sunsets glow.
And now we lie, in Flanders
Fields.
Take up our quarrel, with the foe,
to thee with failing arms we throw
the torch!!
Be yours to hold it high, if ye
break faith with us who've died
we shall not sleep, tho' poppies
blow in Flanders Fields.
In Flanders Fields the poppies
grow, between the crosses,
row on row. That mark our place.
And in the sky; the lark; still
bravely singing flys.
Scarce heard amidst the guns, below.