A Blanket for the Cold - Capitol Hill Coffee House

“I know how cold it is, really. You’re not the first to feel the chill, nor will you be the last. There are a lot of others that have been where you are now, and you’ll meet all of them in just a little while. They’ll come to welcome you to their ranks, they always do. You might find it hard to believe me, but then most people aren’t really aware of how much I know, how much I feel.”

“I regret, sometimes, that I cannot cry. I never had it in me. It’s just not a part of how I’m made. It’s probably better that way, though, else my tears would flow endlessly for you and for all the others. I’ve seen people cry. Once, a lady dressed in black held me while she cried, and I felt her tears, felt the moisture flowing into me. She’s not the first that did it, either. I get a lot of that.”

“I hope I’m a comfort to people like her. I’d like to believe that I am. It’s a part of me that isn’t seen or talked about much. But it’s there. We all have a tender side, and I guess that’s mine. I’ve been hugged so hard, sometimes, that you would think it would squeeze the life out of me. But it hasn’t. It doesn’t. It won’t. I want to be a comfort to all them, her and the others like her.”

“Please. I know you’re cold. That’s why I’m here. I’m always here. I was here for you from the first, it’s only fitting that I be here at the end. I’d like to tell you that I’ll get you all warmed up and cozy, but I’m afraid that I won’t be able to do that. I’d like to. I owe you so much!”

“You know, if it wasn’t for you and your friends, I doubt that I’d even be around. But it seems that, for the longest time, any time that I was in danger, you and your friends would be there to comfort and protect me. That’s why I feel so bad about the cold. I can’t dispel it for you, though. I couldn’t for the others, and I can’t do it for you. All I can do is be here.”

“A blanket for the cold that can be no protection from the cold. The cold you feel is far deeper than I can penetrate. I used to make you feel warm. That was back in school, when you used to talk to me every day.
Remember how I made you feel, when you saw me walking down the street? I guess that was one of the reasons you decided to go to work for me.”

“I guess a lot of people call me impersonal, nowadays. I try not to be. I can’t be all things to all people, I like to be pretty specific, but I try to be as personal as a heartbeat. Oops, bad choice of words. I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“How’d I come to be here?”

“I was born in Verona, New Jersey. Thousands of my brothers and sisters were born there. I was placed into a plastic bag and shipped to where you and I were to come together. When I arrived, I was stored away on a shelf. They came to get me one day, and took me to a room where I was pressed, to remove all the creases. Then I was gently and carefully folded a very special way and brought to you. I was unfolded and put over you, a blanket against the cold you feel, even though I can’t make the cold go away.”

“We’ll be together a little while. I’ll stay with you till the end of all of it, then a few of your friends will gently lift me, fold me in that special way again, and I’ll go on, a present to a loved one of yours.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, most of my brothers and sisters spend a rather short life on top of a flag pole somewhere, until they get old and ragged. Sadly, some of us are bought just for the purpose of burning or defacing us. And there are a few. The ones like me. Our job is the greatest of all, and the most terrible. We get to be the last blanket for someone who gave all that there is to give. A blanket that won’t make you warm. We get to be a symbol of what you did. We’re the ones that don’t get mentioned much on our special day.”

“When’s that?”

“Oh, it’s June 14th. They call it Flag Day.”

“Thank You”

“For what?”

“Because of you, and all the others that have worn the uniform, I have Flag Day. You made sure that I would always have a place to be free to wave. You took me with you to help other flags, from other countries, have a chance to wave over a free land, too.”

“I know you’re cold. But you’ll be with the others, soon. The soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines that went before you. The ones that will warm you in the Presence of God. Some of them didn’t have me there when they went on the journey you’re on. But I was there in spirit. And for you I’m here, too.”

“A blanket for the cold.”

Copyright June 7, 2005 by Dave Hoffman.
Use granted to all who identify author.

Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere.