…how lucky you really are.

I had an interesting thing happen today. I decided to stop by the cemetery to see Dad for Easter as well as to feed the geese and seagulls at the pond. I stopped by the local store and got three loaves of bread. When I got to that point, I started to toss the bread to the geese and gulls when I saw a man walking from the other side of the pond. He approached me and asked if he could use my cell phone because he had left his at his house.

It turned out he was one of the workers who dug the ditches of the cemetery. He was also an Army ranger and served in the Iraq war. He showed me where shrapnel got him in the face, and told me how often our own troops shot at friendly forces…how it happened all the time too. He told me about how he was in a trench talking to someone and then a second later they were shot in the head. He told me about how he keeps having nightmares of carrying one of his buddies and screaming "Medic!!" over and over and how he woke up people in the hospital.

I really have to admit.

You just don't know how lucky you are sometimes until someone actually tells you what they went through.

I was happy to help this man for the day, he got his ride because of me. I was glad I met him and got to hear about his service to our country. I told him that I wish I had his courage.

I may be a pacifist and a hippie, but I do have a hell of a lot of respect for our military. They may not be perfect, but who is? I think their courage is really commendable.