I don't often praise my country - well not publicly, but when a letter dropped on the front door mat this morning, and I opened it - I felt a swelling in the chest - the same feeling I get when our countrymen do well at sport, and of course the ultimate sacrifices they show for Queen and country. Now because I've sidetracked, and got involved with achievements in sport, and the rights and wrong of the wars we continue to be caught up in - what I was about to say has paled to being almost insignificant, but I'll tell you anyway, and perhaps come back to patronage a little later.
It was all to do with a speeding fine I picked up going through a place called Chidick on our way to Torquay in the summer of 2005. At the time roadwork's disrupted our journey, and we'd been diverted from the usual straight foreword route. Anyway I paid the £60 fine, and received the penalty points on my licence. To say I was speeding is laughable as all that showed on the fixed camera was thirty five miles an hour - a similar speed was shown on a hand held camera picked up two years early taking a friend to Bournemouth Airport, but then if you over step the speed limit you deserve to pay, but imagine my astonishment when I started to read the following from the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership.
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Remember this is four years after the crime was committed, and of course undetectable by me - had it not been for the laws we uphold in this great Nation - what a country - No wonder people from all over the world want to live here when they see the fairness granted to everyone, and all we ask in return is that they obey the rules. While I'm on the subject of a little praise for GB I must mention my joy at seeing a leader of one of the largest democracies in the world trying to adopt a National Health service - cos it won't be called a National Health Service - the American's will always come up with a slicker title, but as long as it looks after all of the people it will be a huge step foreword, but no easy task with such a huge population.
Before I close on this Sunday of remembrance might I mention how our hearts go out to the brave forces of many Nations trying to bring a little democracy to Iraq, and Afghanistan. It tears at the heart strings to imagine the grief their love ones feel on hearing tragic news, and of course the same goes for the innocent civilians in both countries when it effects them to. Wars are never glorious, but to bring justice where there is no justice can't be a bad thing. The fact we are there must not be marred by thoughts of pulling out before the job is done, or the evil that is there has won. I am able to speak my mind because I live in a democracy which the brave fought for on numerous occasions. God bless every true hero.
November 9th: Slap bang between my birthday tomorrow, and the BBC's coverage of Armistice Day at the Cenotaph in London yesterday I received an email from a friend, and United States veteran called Carl Young. His timing, and the fact it was about a little girl who had lost her daddy - more or less compelled me to add it to this page. I hope it touches your hearts as much as it did mine. There is no author, but I wouldn't mind betting the little child's mother wrote it.
Daddy's Poem
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Her hair was up in a pony tail, her favourite dress tied with a bow. Today was Daddy's Day at school, and she couldn't wait to go. But her mommy tried to tell her, that she probably should stay home. Why the kids might not understand it if she went to school alone. But she was not afraid; she knew just what to say. What to tell her classmates of why he wasn't there today.
But still her mother worried, for her to face this day alone. And that was why once again, she tried to keep her daughter home. But the little girl went to school eager to tell them all, About a dad she never sees, a dad who never calls. There were daddies along the wall for everyone to meet. Children squirming impatiently, all anxious in their seats
One by one the teacher called a student from the class. To introduce their daddy, as seconds slowly passed. At last the teacher called her name, every child then turned to stare. Each of them was searching, for a man who wasn't there. 'Where's her daddy at?' she heard a boy call out. 'She probably doesn't have one,' another student dared to shout.
And from somewhere near the back, she heard one daddy say, 'Looks like another deadbeat dad, too busy to waste his day' The words did not offend her, as she smiled up at her Mom. And looked back at her teacher, who told her to go on. And with hands behind her back, slowly she began to speak. And out from the mouth of a child, came words incredibly unique.
'My Daddy couldn't be here, because he lives so far away. But I know he wishes he could be, since this is such a special day. And though you cannot meet him, I wanted you all to know. All about my daddy, and how much he loves me so. He loved to tell me stories, he taught me to ride my bike. He surprised me with pink roses, and taught me to fly a kite.
We used to share fudge sundaes, and ice cream in a cone. And though you cannot see him I'm not standing here alone. 'Cause my daddy's always with me, even though we are apart I know because he told me, he'll forever be in my heart' With that, her little hand reached up, and lay across her chest. Feeling her own heartbeat, beneath her favourite dress.
And from somewhere here in the crowd of dads, her mother stood in tears. Proudly watching her young daughter, who was wise beyond her years. For she stood up for the love of a man not in her life. Doing what was best for her, doing what was right. And when she dropped her hand back down, staring straight into the crowd. She finished with a voice so soft, but its message clear and loud.
'I love my daddy very much, he is my shining star. And if he could, he'd be here, but heaven's just too far. You see he is a British soldier, and died just this past year When a roadside bomb hit his convoy and taught the Britons all to fear. But sometimes when I close my eyes, it's like he never went away. And then she closed her eyes, and saw him there that day.
And to her mothers amazement, she witnessed with surprise. A room full of daddies and children, all starting to close their eyes. Who knows what they saw before them, who knows what they felt inside. Perhaps for merely a second, they saw him at her side. 'I know you're with me Daddy,' to the silence she called out. And what happened next made believers, of those once filled with doubt.
Not one in that room could explain it, for each of their eyes had been closed. But there on the desk beside her, was a fragrant long-stemmed rose. And a child was blessed, if only for a moment, by the love of her shining star. And given the gift of believing, that heaven is never too far.
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