The following is a post I wrote last December.  Lots of people enjoyed reading it, and it provided encouragement and a positive message for many.  Since we’re into the Christmas season again, I wanted to re-post it.

After over 25 years of teaching, I still enjoy experiencing fresh examples of the insight and compassion of children.  I found that to be the case when the children at my elementary school wrote letters to soldiers serving overseas.

Since I have a nephew who is serving in Iraq, some of the letters were given to me to send to him to share with his unit. Here is a small sampling of the drawings and letters that I’ll be shipping to my nephew tomorrow:

I will start off with the card that should win an award somewhere! This child gets it - because of our American soldiers there IS still hope in the world.

The following are pictures and exerpts of letters from children from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Dear Soldier,

Happy holidays. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. I feel very bad that you have to be in the war during the holiday, but the one thing we’re all happy about is that you’re fighting for our country.

Dear Soldier,

I dedicate this letter to you because you are fighting for the U.S.A. Is it hot in Iraq? I do thank you for keeping us little kids safe. I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Dear Soldier,

Merry Christmas to you. Thank you for serving our country. You are so brave for going across the ocean. I am so proud of you.

Dear Soldier,

How is it going? You know if I was there I would be scared. I’m sure I would miss my family and friends, but you are doing the right thing. You’re saving a lot of people. You people rock! I hope you have a wonderful merry Christmas.

Dear Soldier,

I am in second grade and I live in Tennessee. I like how you are fighting for me and my family. You and your buddies should get to come home when Christmas comes.You are brave to go out and fight. All of you are real brave. I like you.

Dear Soldier,

I wish you could spend the holidays with your family. I appreciate your dedication to serving our country and fighting for our freedom. Our whole class of 25 students is writing letters. I’m the only one who wrote two. I know you don’t want to be there right now. I hope you come back in one piece.

Dear Soldier,

I like the army. I almost read all of the army books. We just moved here a week ago. The old school I went to ws good, but this school is better. We are glad you are doing this. Thanks for making the world a better place. I know I want to join the army. I had fun writing this letter and I will write another.

Dear Soldier,

I appreciate what you have done for our country. I have written a poem especially for you.

Heroic, brave

Fight, protect, guard

Thank you for everything

Fighter

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 1:58 pm and is filed under Children, Holidays, Our Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.