I've been wondering why it is that I get choked up when I read all of the letters we have posted all over camp from kids in the states.  Adults write us letters too, but the kid's ones get to me.  They aren't very wordy and don't say anything profound.  Mostly they tell us thank you; for keeping them safe, for trying to help poor and frightened people, for defending our country.   But they also say come home without a scratch, be safe, try to stay warm, and that they hope we have a merry Christmas.  It makes me remember why I'm here.  A friend I have made here put it better than I have ever been able to.

I asked him once why he joined.  He said it was after the London train bombing that he made up his mind.  He thought to himself simply, "I don't want to live in a world like this.  I want to change it."  An idealist?  Of course.  But he's also a realist.  He understands that it is futility to fight all of the madness in the world but that there isn't really an alternative for him.  I told him that he just described how I have felt for years.  A bond formed out of those shared sentiments and I felt understood by someone like I rarely do.