My Marine on the beach
Today, I wrestle with my longing for the man he was before war as I watch in wonder and renewed hope at the man emerging, like a Phoenix, from the ashes of what he became amidst war. As a nation we ask of our military the un-askable.
We are asking them to die. We are sending them into horrible situations where they face horrible decisions and partake in horrible acts. As a nation, we owe it to our veterans to accept full responsibility and most importantly to hear their story, to listen, to love, to remember and forgive.
Along this journey with my son I had the great pleasure to meet Eddie Black, a Marine like my son, and Gulf War I veteran and now a member of the Oregon National Guard. His essay here speaks far more eloquently than I could ever hope to about war and being a warrior and I am honored to offer this tribute as we commemorate Veterans Day.
Semper Fi
Due to the length of the essay I offer only a snippet of it here but you can link to the complete pdf below and I encourage you to read it in its entirety… believe me it is the patriotic thing to do.
True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Dear reader:
Please allow me a moment of your heart and mind’s openness. I ask for your suspension of personal beliefs, your politics, your philosophy, and your ideas of membership in various groups. Open yourself to me. Please.
What is a hero? The term is used loosely and at times cheaply. Yet if I were to ask you to think and tell me ‘who are your heroes’ who would you say? People of character? People of virtue? People who lived a life of purpose beyond their own? I will assert that a hero is all of these things and is also one of action. We are what we do. Heroes are people of character that exemplify virtues for reasons beyond themselves. There are many types of heroes, lives of inspiration with stories that elevate our hearts should we pause in attention.
There is, however, another type of hero that seems to typify at the same time to different people all that we consider heroic or villainous. Upon these human beings we drape meanings and archetypes of dramatic proportions, projecting onto them all of our greatest hopes, or all of our greatest fears. We admire their valor, virtue, courage and self sacrifice against impossible odds, and we detest and cry out against their ferocity, violence, and great propensity for destruction. These complex beings, rarely seen for what they are… human… are veterans in our armed services.
