It was merely one of those unimportant non-academic subject activities that was assigned to us ninth graders last year. My fellow classmates had to create visually appealing and meaningful posters and banners to celebrate the heroic metal which our Indian soldiers portray in every act of theirs, and my alternative was a textual letter/address pertaining to the same.
In all honesty, I paid little attention to it due to the relative insignificance of this activity on grades (an arguably flawed philosophy, quite agreeably), but now that I happen to revisit what I had somehow and someway produced then, I swell with pride at not what my then 14-year-old self happened to compose, but the true spirit and immense sacrifices of the ever-vigilant Indian army men. The following assignment is not limited to the deeds of only Indian soldiers, but encompass the essence of border patrol and security forces that constitue the military resources of any country.
The Thank You Letter
Assignment: Write a thank you address to the soldiers protecting Indian borders.
To the soldier of India,
Crimes, terrorism and disasters have become ubiquitous. Our brothers and sisters, family and friends, everyone is dying as victims of injustice, vehemence and wrongdoers. But you punish these malefactors, you protect us from them, so that we, young citizens of India, are shielded from being exploited or victimized.
As tomorrow’s administrators, the youth recognizes and deeply appreciates your sacrifices. You shed your blood to save your countrymen. You stay on guard perennially to defend us against all malicious forces. You make great personal compromises for the nation’s greater good. You fight, you get injured, you are even incapacitated, but you continue to persevere.
We are in pounding yet silent encouragement of your profound bravery, and we shall not let your legacy remain incomplete – how Bhagat Singh displayed nationalism until his last breath, how Chandrashekhar Aazad instilled his patriotic presence even after being killed, how Jhansi ki Rani ignited that spark of loyalty in all female Indians, and how countless of you still die in the Kashmir conflict, while securing our worthy territories, never giving in in the face of regional and extra-regional adversaries. Your imprint on Mother India shall be preserved as we carry tales of your valour across geographies and generations.
You are not soldiers, but saviours; the guardians of this divine land. I thank you for everything you do – upholding our nation’s guiding values – liberty, fraternity and equality. In whatever way conceivable, we, Mother India’s children, shall support and further your cause, and just like you, the soldiers of India, we will keep breathing our national integrity even after our last one.
Yours sincerely,
Bhavya Shah
Hiking Across Horizons 
I was happy to read this letter for soldiers.
This is a great message for soldiers.
Thank you
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onesty, I paid little attention to it due to the relative insignificance of this activity on grades (an arguably flawed philosophy, quite agreeably),
I am so happy to read this piece once again. I too revisited the happiness I felt when I read your well thought and meaningful piece. I had informed you that writing was mailed to the Defense Ministry along with the posters.
I culled the above lines from your reaction to know whether you really thought thus while writing that piece or is this just an after thought. As it’s become very fashionable to critique something with an after thought.
But, why do you think the philosophy is flawed? I wanted to talk to you regarding this . Everything in life that we conform to need not be according to our liking, or our to our heart’s content. We conform to many a things in life to which we might not believe in. But we conform to those things as it might be the norm, the system that we can’t do without , to get accepted and at times just to adjust to situations.
And if you have spoken about your philosophy of not readily complying to rules where it might not be assessed and graded and that is what is flawed, then I am happy that the understanding had dawned on you as an after thought. It will definitely help you to make peace with many turmoils that may be within.
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Thanks Ma’am for the appreciation. With regards to the quoted philosophy, the norm is to treat all subjects and all activities equally, whether academic or non-academic, whether graded or otherwise, etc. However, alike the typical student, one tends to be slightly more casual with the comparatively less impacting assignments, and that is what I had frankly done in this case, which I now recognize as a somewhat ‘flawed philosophy’.
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