'My three best friends have been asleep for 70 years.' So stated the old man sitting at the supermarket exit, handing out poppy lapel pins in preparation for Sunday's Remembrance Day celebration in England (which is the equivalent of our Veteran's Day). His words checked my steps, and I gazed on his aged countenance with a mixture of respect and pity. 'But here I am, just sitting here,' he continued, looking both stoic and forlorn, his eyes fixed on a point in the distant past. He came back to the present, glanced at me, and asked if my grandfather had served. 'Yes,' I replied proudly, 'in the United States Marine Corps, against the Japanese.' The old man's face widened into a grin. We chatted briefly; he had served for the British, of course, in north Africa for several years. We parted ways, and as I walked home, I mulled this unexpected encounter. My three best friends have been asleep for 70 years.
This weekend, we celebrate our veterans. Many of them gave their lives. Their lives. Their future. Their hope. Their potential. Their desire for children- offspring to carry on their genes. They gave everything, and they gave it in the prime of their lives. And, for those who didn't perish in conflict- think on their sacrifice. Not just the battle- I'm talking about now- today. That old man? Imagine the horrors he's seen, and spent a lifetime putting out of his mind. Imagine the guilt he feels, a hint of which I saw in his words- 'here I am, just sitting here.' Why did he survive and not his friends? What made him more worthy? Everyone in that war was a casualty in some respect- forever changed by that horrible conflict. A part of them is gone, never to return.
For whom did they sacrifice? For us. For people they never met. For people who tend to spend an awful lot of time complaining about really stupid stuff. For people who get angry when heavy traffic delays their arrival by a few minutes. For people who waste their time, money, attention, and resources on frivolous pursuits. Who, frankly, often don't give a damn about the sacrifices others have made for them, and instead focus on trivialities and 'what's in it for them.' That old man? He sat there in that store, thinking on those he's lost. Me? I was excited that my favorite drink was on sale, and really angry that the check-out line was taking so long. Looks like one of us needs to re-think his life.
Happy Veteran's Day. Honor their memory. Think of their deeds. Thank God that there are those willing to give it all for the good of all. Share in their victory by performing your own sacrifices for others. I assure you- what you give will be far less than you've already received.
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." - John 15:13
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