I hugged my veteran today before he left for work, told him that I loved him and was proud of him for the sacrifices he made for our country.
As usual, he minimized what he did as not being all that special. I have heard, "It's no big deal, T" many times in reference to his military service. Yet, what he saw while in service for the United States weighs heavily on his mind sometimes, even after almost thirty years.
He comes from a military family. His Dad is retired Navy. One of his brothers spent 20 years in the Air Force and another was in the Army and my veteran ended up in the Marine Corps.
Like most other military personnel, all of these men are humble about what they did. They minimize their sacrifices. It's no big deal to them. They do not care to have attention drawn to their service. To them, by enlisting, they just did what needed to be done and never considered the idea of weighing the cost of that decision.
Like many others, the cost to my veteran was very high. The haunting scenes of a bombed out barracks in October 1983, followed him into the future. A cowardly act by a terrorist in Beirut ushered into his life, scenes that are too horrifying to describe and have caused a part of him to be closed off to family and friends. For him, it is too difficult to burden anyone else with what he lived through so he made it no big deal.
But, it is.
The idea of John 15:13, "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends", was born out in his life. Though taken out of context, because this verse is really talking about Jesus laying down His life for us, if we are His friends (children), it is often used to describe the sacrifice of our military personnel. Their willingness to lay down their lives to keep us safe at home, to secure our freedoms even unto their own death is an extremely high calling.
Who can account for the governmental paperwork that orchestrated a switch between my veteran and another Marine? The repercussions of the switch rendered the end of one life and the preservation of another; one family mourning a loss and another family rejoicing at the homecoming of their son. The son who would go on to be a father to eight kids. The son who never gives up even when the future looks dismal. The son who tries his very best to be what God wants him to be even in the face of a haunted past.
It could very well have been the other way around.
On this Veteran's Day, I am humbled by the knowledge that because of a switch in orders, I am able to hug my veteran and tell him I love him. The other family cannot do this today and I am grateful for their son's sacrifice.
It is a very big deal.
I love you Michael T.
John 15:12-14 This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you.
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