Father, I want to join the army

We're all just pilgrims my son.

Born with a mind to change, wonder, and reach.

You have the soul of a farmer. Those tattered clothes and callused hands don't speak for anything or anyone. We reap and we sow, so goes our curse."By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground." We are all sons of Cain and don't ever forget it. But we all can't be Cain all the time.

If God was merciful, that fever would have swept right through your mamma. Her lying there in them soaked sheets,choking on the very life being taken from her. You think God wants you to be anywhere else? If he did, he would have put you there. Your great grandfather in WW1, your uncle in Vietnam, this country has spilt enough of this family's blood. If God has any sense he'd want me to keep the rest.

 I know that yearning in your mind, this sense of justice you're after. The duty you speak of is the same slogan sold to all the poor boys in these parts. The truth is, cowards think there's strength in power, but vengeance is in God's hands. You want to climb the mountain and proclaim victory at the summit. My boy there is no such thing, there is no summit. You are a king of nothing, a leader of only cattle. 

You think God is gonna save you? God will not be monopolized.

God has left us long ago, and we probably deserve it. His judgment for our offering of salvation by cannon fire. "Thou shall not kill," unless men with stars order you to do so. We are nothing but stray dogs at the kitchen table. They'll bring you back to me in pieces, in a little wooden casket. Or on a stretcher, crutches, in a cast or a wheelchair.  

This here is the only world you ever need to know. Your naive heart believes it's honorable to die for your country. I've been kicking around dirt for my natural life, and in this earth I am God. So as God I'm telling you there is no honor in dying, there is only honor in living. Now I want you to pick up that shovel and start digging. I don't wanna hear another word about it.