I have been doing some family research and I found that my family has a long line of military service. My father was in the army during the Vietnam war. My grandpa and grandma served during WWII making fighter planes for the airforce. My great-grandpa Grew and his brothers served in the army during WWI and went overseas. My husband's grandfather was in the navy during WWII. He said he didn't like to recall what he saw. And today, my brother and brother-in-law are in the Airforce. I feel proud that so many have served and are serving from our family. Take a look into your history and see what you find. Seeing that others have served makes me want to do my part. Flowers at graves are nice, but I think even better is to be a good citizen: respect the flag; obey the law; volunteer for the suffering in the community; offer a helping hand to a neighbor; pitch in and clean up disasters instead of joining in the cycle of blame. These are areas I want to work on. No matter our political views I think we can follow J. F. Kennedy's words, "And so my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." Those who have given their lives for their country did just this, and I think we can too. Thank you service men and women; thank you.
In My Pod
12 years ago
2 comments:
Teresa, I was thinking a lot about this myself over the weekend. Thanks for sharing your family history - I think that's a great idea. I too, think we should be doing more than flowers on Memorial Day. Action is best.
I love how you correlate being a good citizen as a way of serving our country. Especially right now, with all the rhetoric regarding peoples American-ness (For lack of a better word). Almost to the point of name calling it has become the answer to anything you don't like, "That is unamerican". As a good American, I appreciate you reminding us that we serve our country in many ways.
BTW: My grandfather served in the Navy in WWII. He never spoke much about it either. The only story I have heard, once, was of an American solder shooting an unarmed and imprisoned Japanese solder who stated "America good". For a brief instant, I felt the weight of his sacrifice and the burden he still carries due to his service. When we send boys to war, we purchase their lives whether they live through it or not... but that is a different blog post. :)
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