Message from Chairman Jesse Garcia

MESSAGE FROM CHAIRMAN JESSE GARCIA

December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas To All!

I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you – the dedicated members, supporters and volunteers of the Brookhaven Town Republican Committee, and of course, all the people of our great Town - a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas is an ideal time to express love and good wishes for those we care; for whom we love; and to be thankful for all that we have. This is the time of year for all of us to savor the moment and make up for lost time with family, friends and loved ones. Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first.

May the spirit of Christmas bless your home. May all those you hold dear, always be near and warm to your heart. And may your days always be bright with cheer.

This Christmas and Holiday Season, when we gather with our families, let us keep in our prayers those who are less fortunate than we are. Hold in your hearts and your prayers those members of our own family, our Republican Party family, friends and neighbors who are no longer with us. Keep in your hearts and thoughts the Romaine Family- and all those members of our committee and family that are now with our Lord.

Please keep in our prayers the brave men and women of the armed forces – who are away from their own families – so that our freedom is assured and we are safe at home. And offer a very special prayer to those men and women of our military who have been wounded or have given the ultimate sacrifice so that we may be free.

A few days ago, I shared with you a Special, Yet Different Christmas Poem. It honors the Men and Women of the Armed Forces. I feel compelled, with Christmas upon us, to share it once again with you and all of the wonderful families who call Brookhaven their home.

My wish for all of you – my friends and my extended family that make up the finest Republican Committee in the State – is that your Christmas is enjoyable and may the essence of Christmas remain always with you and your families.

- Jesse Garcia, Chairman

A Different Kind of Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow..

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN; 30th Naval Construction Regiment; OIC, Logistics Cell One

The BTRC, where Winners Don’t Rest; We Work Harder & Smarter

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