Dear Soldier-to-be,
First of all, hats off to you and a lot of respect from my side, because it takes a lot to risk your life for the nation. It’s not just your life, but all the other lives which are associated with you, who are sacrificing as well.
The first time you talk to your family about your aim, they’ll be devastated. Your mother may even lose her senses and cry continuously in the imagination of losing you. After all, they’re your parents and you going to the army, instantly makes them fear your death. Some people from your friend circle and relatives itself will demotivate you and suggest you other career options with heavy paychecks and no life risks, but I know none will ever be able to convince you. Because that convincing part is over since ages. There was a day in your life, when you took this decision, where you stepped forward and never promised to look back.
You’ve been working hard on your physique, giving your best, because you know the whole nation’s security depends on you. You often remind yourself of the time when you were a little kid staring at the television screen, the headlines showing several army men martyred in an attack by the terrorists. You see their mothers cry and fall on the ground, asking God to return their children. You see the martyred persons wrapped in the tricolor, return home and eventually, while growing up, promise yourself to never let go all their pain, blood and tears in vain.
Today, while there’s a little time left with your family, you live life in moments, to the fullest. You sometimes imagine yourself being killed in a terrorist attack and the same scene plays in your head, just the mothers replaced by your mother and the corpse replaced by yours. The tricolor remains in the same place, wrapped with all respect and that’s why you never break down and I know you never will. I’m sure you’ll never let our nation down and that’s why, I respect you. We respect you. The whole nation respects you. You deserve a million of salutes.
Love,
Just a citizen.
