{"id":4808,"date":"2012-11-20T19:45:29","date_gmt":"2012-11-21T00:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=4808"},"modified":"2012-11-20T19:45:29","modified_gmt":"2012-11-21T00:45:29","slug":"day-20-of-a-month-of-thanksgiving-war-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2012\/11\/day-20-of-a-month-of-thanksgiving-war-peace.html","title":{"rendered":"day 20 of a month of Thanksgiving (war &amp; peace&#8230;) ~"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/files\/2012\/11\/image10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-4809\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/239\/2012\/11\/image10-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>As pictures of wounded children &#8212; and tiny body bags &#8212; cast long shadows across international media these past few days, I am so very grateful to live in a country free from war within our borders. I am grateful my two wonderful sons don&#8217;t have to choose between fighting and leaving, as many in my generation did. I am grateful to the many who have chosen to fight so that my sons have this option today.<\/p>\n<p>My family is proud of our many veterans, several of them (my sister, my father, others in the extended family) lifers. So perhaps this is a double thank-you, today: gratitude that peace is possible, and humility at the price it has cost too many.<\/p>\n<p>But today, after a day of walking across the pedestrian bridge over the river, watching a flock of more than 100 pelicans basking in the bright Oklahoma light, I am grateful that there is peace. I am grateful to walk down a street free from fear of bombs. I am grateful no one I love is dodging rockets shot from school yards. And I am well aware that violence begets violence, as so many faiths remind us. I can&#8217;t imagine living, as I do, almost 2,000 miles from sons, if they were at war. I breathe for every parent with children &#8212; old or young &#8212; at risk through war&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>So today I give thanks for peace, and the centuries of American soldier who have fought to keep it for us. It is a gift too many of us take for granted.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As pictures of wounded children &#8212; and tiny body bags &#8212; cast long shadows across international media these past few days, I am so very grateful to live in a country free from war within our borders. I am grateful my two wonderful sons don&#8217;t have to choose between fighting and leaving, as many in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[430,170],"tags":[11,262,1284,1241,426,1229],"class_list":["post-4808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peace","category-war","tag-beginners-heart","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-peace","tag-thanksgiving","tag-thanksgiving-month","tag-war"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>day 20 of a month of Thanksgiving (war &amp; peace...) ~ - Beginner&#039;s Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As pictures of wounded children -- and tiny body bags -- cast long shadows across international media these past few days, I am so very grateful to live\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2012\/11\/day-20-of-a-month-of-thanksgiving-war-peace.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"day 20 of a month of Thanksgiving (war &amp; 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