‘A Journal for Jordan’ is about God, Family and an American Soldier
“The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” – Abraham Lincoln from the Gettysburg Address given on November 19, 1863.
I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).
Denzel Washington created something very special for Americans in his film “A Journal for Jordan.”
It is a story of faith, love, devotion, family and service to the nation. It is about a soldier. An American soldier.
This solder, like many I served with, was black. This soldier was a First Sergeant. This soldier was a patriot who was willing to give the last full measure of devotion to protect his fellow soldiers. This was a soldier who was a father. His name was Charles M. King.
His story struck me and my wife in so many ways because you see Charles’s story is not that much different than our story or the stories of many I served with over my 23-year U.S. Army career.
In a December 23rd, 2021 Department of Defense article titled “‘A Journal for Jordan’ Brings Soldier’s Story of Love, Legacy to Life”
When Dana Canedy gave Army 1st Sgt. Charles M. King a journal in late 2005 to write a few words of advice to their unborn son, she said she expected only a page or two from her shy, reserved fiance.
King, a nearly 20-year veteran of the force by this time, was heading off on yet another overseas deployment, his last before retirement. Canedy, who was a few months pregnant, wanted to have the words “I love you” written on a page beside King’s name, just in case something happened.
[ … ]
“The minute I opened [the journal] and started reading it, I knew it was going to be something special,” Canedy recently recalled.
Jordan was born in early 2006 while King was on deployment in Iraq. King’s commitment to his men in the field kept him from making it for the birth, but he was able to come home for two weeks to meet his 5-month-old son. While he lapped up every moment he had with the boy, King also continued writing.
“He became obsessed with this journal,” Canedy said. “He wrote 200 pages, most of it from Iraq, about the power of prayer and how to choose a wife. He made an exercise program for [Jordan]. He told him why he loved me [and] why he wanted a son.”
The Bottom Line
If you want to learn the truth then this is a film that you must watch. As the saying goes truth is stranger than fiction. Mark Twain wrote in “Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World”:
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.
This film is based upon the true lives of Dana Canedy, Army 1st Sgt. Charles M. King and their son Jordan.
I was most touched when Jordan insisted that he and his mother visit the grave of his father at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Jordan read from his father’s journal to a small group of family, friends and those who served with 1st Sergeant King in Iraq. Jordan read from his father’s journal that, “Love is worth fighting for.” Love of family, love of the mother, love of the father and love for the nation.
It was a poignant moment when Jordan, the son, for the first time meets his father at his grave site.
We pray for all of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who are in harms way as we write this review.
Denzel Washington said, “I wanted to please God” by making A Journal for Jordan. I believe he succeeded beyond his wildest expectations.
This is a film that all need to review and reflect upon.
I’m sure that U.S. Army First Sergeant Charles M. King had to have read the Gettysburg Address and understood its true meaning that all men are created equal. Please listen to Gettysburg Address:
©Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
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