Power Bracelet

Dear John,

You have become enamored of many super heroes lately, mostly from the DC Universe... Superman, Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern.

A lot of days, Green Lantern is your favorite.  Your grandma even got you a "real" power ring for your birthday so you could stop using heart-shaped faux rhinestone rings from your sister's dress up pile.

Today, though, you decided you had a power bracelet.

What does a power bracelet look like?

It looks like this.

I know to your three-year-old self, it really was like something a super hero would wear... shiny and metal, and to your three-year-old self I would agree that it is indeed a power bracelet.

To your future self, though, I would clarify...

This bracelet reminds us of the real heroes in our lives, men like your uncle, who died in service to his country.  This is a power bracelet because we are a more powerful nation because of men and women like your uncle, because we are a more powerful family for having been through the loss of him, because we are more powerful as individuals for having known him.

This bracelet is something for a different kind of hero, for women like your Aunt Rachel and your Gram, for men like your Grandpa, your Uncle Jonathan, and your daddy.  When they wear this bracelet, they are saying that they had someone really special, a hero, and now they have to be heroes themselves, to walk on an Earth where heroes have died, to continue the act of living in the face of death.

This bracelet tells the world that you are part of a special family, a family that paid a high price for American freedom.

This is a power bracelet.

Wear it with pride.

Love,
Mom