I'm with Don. The lives of our young men and women who volunteer should not be cheaply sold by politicians. That doesn't mean that their sacrifices are without meaning, or "in vain." No soldier who has died following the lawful orders of his superiors in what THAT SOLDIER considers to be the cause of freedom has died in vain. Respect and be grateful for our security. Don't worship war.

I HAVE a rendezvous with Death        
At some disputed barricade,        
When Spring comes back with rustling shade        
And apple-blossoms fill the airâ€"        
I have a rendezvous with Death               5
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.        

It may be he shall take my hand        
And lead me into his dark land        
And close my eyes and quench my breathâ€"        
It may be I shall pass him still.               10
I have a rendezvous with Death        
On some scarred slope of battered hill,        
When Spring comes round again this year        
And the first meadow-flowers appear.        

God knows ’t were better to be deep               15
Pillowed in silk and scented down,        
Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep        
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,        
Where hushed awakenings are dear …        
But I’ve a rendezvous with Death               20
At midnight in some flaming town,        
When Spring trips north again this year,        
And I to my pledged word am true,        
I shall not fail that rendezvous.

Alan Seeger