Band of Elders!

Today I found myself in the company of several of my friends I haven’t seen in a while.  I first met these men while serving in the Australia Perth Mission.  We have come together from time to time over the last 15 years, our little reunion.  There are others we would like like to attend, but due to proximate and losing touch, our core group has been only 4 of us most of the time.  I am always touched by the love for each other that remains intact all these years later. 

When we first began to meet we spent a lot of time discussing the past and the future, memories from the mission, and plans for what is ahead.   And now we spend the majority of time on the present.   I sat there between comments we were making dumbfounded that I could feel so much Love and concern for these men so many years later.  I never was in a companionship with any of them, yet all of them served near me.  And I began to realize, that you could probably add or take away anyone I knew from the mission to our little group, and I would have the same love and concern for them as well. 

It makes me think of a monologue from one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. It is an oft-quoted line, but it fits here nonetheless.  King Harry speaks to his soldiers before going into a battle in which the numbers are overwhelmingly not in their favor: 

 He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,  Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,  And rouse him at the name of Crispian.   He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,  And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'   Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words-Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester- Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.   

This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;     For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

I find it fascinating when I read this play, knowing that Henry stood with these men, fighting right alongside them.  This is pure poetry by Mr. Shakespeare.  The words grab me even further when I remember that Henry’s boyhood friends were with him, and even more still when I recall he had to sentence one of them to death earlier in the piece due to war crimes.  And though they had some early success the day ahead looked bleak indeed.  It is hard for historians to agree on how outnumbered his army was some counting it as being 4 to 1 in favor of the French.  Henry indeed had reason to despair.  Yet in real life and the Shakespearian account, they win the day. 

I found a similar sentiment as expressed by Henry while sat with my old friends.  In many ways for us, we served on the front lines.  Our heart and souls were tied up in battle and still are in a different ways today.  And we have all faced casualties, both to others and to ourselves.  Our scars are real.  Sure they may not manifest themselves physically, but they are as ever-present as we remember opportunities lost, or brothers that have strayed, or testimonies unborn.  Yet, we truly were and are a band of brothers.  I think of those I served with as my brothers and sisters

Familiar in his mouth as household words

President Jones, Seegmiller, Ferre, Mair, Wright, Clark, Watson, and others.    Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.

We few, we happy few, we band of Elders!