The Price of Peace: A Daughter’s Perspective!

How often we forget that the “price of peace” cannot be measured the same by all who view it.  The following story is capped with a music video sung by two sisters whose father, CW5 Jim Gaddis, is the command chief warrant officer of the Illinois Army National Guard expressing their feelings toward his absence and their understanding of “the price of peace.”

 

The Patriot Guard is part of this video and was asked by the Tennessee National Army National Guard to assist.  The 2 young girls singing, lead is Alyssa who is 12 years old.  The backup singer is her sister Cassy who is 16 years old.  Alyssa wrote this when her father was deployed. It was filmed in Smyrna TN.....It's really amazing to watch!

Deployment ceremonies are never easy. Emotions can be overwhelming as families and friends gather together for their good-byes. These experiences inspired Alyssa to write a song — a song to lift the spirits of those enduring deployment, a song to inspire courage and hope. Alyssa titled her song, “The Price of Peace.”

 “I went to a deployment ceremony where kids were clutching to their dad’s neck crying,” Alyssa recalls, “and it just broke my heart.  [Cassy and I] have it so easy right now with our dad at home. There are dads out there [with] loved ones going off to war.” Cassy agreed, adding, “That particular ceremony was probably the saddest one I have ever been to because there were so many families there. I think that some people don’t really understand because they haven’t seen it with their own eyes.”

 

When Alyssa started writing her song, she knew there were other songs out there with similar themes. But many of them had sad endings.  She wanted hers to be unique—by being positive. She wanted it to have a happy ending.

 

Cassy had the same idea. “I think that a lot of people want to focus on the negative,” she shared. “And [it’s] there … but I always think there’s a silver lining to everything.”

Alyssa felt her original point of view could make the song stand out.  “I wanted to write it from a girl’s perspective—‘My dad’s going off to war,’ ” she explained. “There aren’t any songs about younger kids with dads going off to war.  “Hopefully this song will allow people to focus on the good. [Yes], it is hard when he’s gone, but he is coming home.”

 

The Gaddis’ are invested in the success of the song not because of the chance to make it big but to help others.  “Hopefully, it will touch people deeply,” Cassy said.  And, Alyssa adds, “It’s for a good cause, because all of the money made off of this is [being donated] to the military families.” It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the same way, a deployment is worth a thousand emotions. Maybe “The Price of Peace” will be worth a thousand smiles.

 

CW5 Gaddis thank you for your service.  Alyssa and Cassy thank you for bringing a smile to my face and others.  I would also like to thank the National Guard for their support of this music video and for all that they do in support of freedom.