2021: I turn 82

Glenn W. Hawkes
2 min readSep 19, 2021

A man who never went to war

My oldest grandson at Camp

I spent Labor Day weekend at Camp with my oldest son and his two boys — my two grandboys — the older just turning twelve years of age.

I hadn’t yet gotten him a gift. In the past, on some special occasion for my grandboys, I would write and send them a wild story of one kind or another — to give them surprise and pleasure, as they themselves would always be interwoven with the yarn.

So early morning on the Tuesday after seeing him at Camp, I woke with the energy to write such a story. As I began, it struck me that the my grandson was just now entering his adolescence, and that he might appreciate something different.

Though the dark clouds of climate change traverse poisonous waters of political angst flooding the American landscape, I decided on finding a story-line with a more positive picture of where we find ourselves — where my grandson might find himself — these days.

Let me write a prayer, I thought to myself. Let me write about the spirit of meaning and hope that can lift our lives; something to challenge my grandson on his path on into his adult years; something that he and I might have a chance to discuss and explore before I pass away.

Spirit About & Spirit Within

A Prayer for My Grandson, Turning 12 on 9/12/21

Spirit about and Spirit within

O hear our prayer

We know You’re there

On Earth as You are in the Heavens

Sacred Thy Spirit and Love Universal

Do help us to end our dream-like rehearsals

Thy womb is dry — no room, no time

No goodness found in sham reversals

By Moon, by Sun, by Allah and Yahweh

Thy will be done

To straighten our way

Embracing dread

Now and ahead

Beyond all temptation to blind worship this nation

For Thou art the glory — and Very Big Story

For ever, and ever, and ever more.

- Amen.

To read more of A Man Who Never Went to War: Introduction & Table of Contents

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