Smile

While bickering about the fact I didn’t have any cream cheese for my bagel this morning, I read a small article in the paper regarding a young local woman serving in the marines. After having been deployed to Afghanistan in December of 2004, she was home for the Christmas holiday. When asked by friends and family about her overseas experience, she responded with some hesitancy. She wasn’t sure her reply would do justice to what she experienced or that people removed from such a place could grasp the full meaning of what she witnessed.

“The experience was so powerful” she said. “You see people who have nothing.” What she experienced made it difficult to come back to a nation of “people who have everything and think they have nothing.”

She talked of the Afghan people and in spite of their harsh circumstances, they appreciated greatly the work of the American soldiers on their behalf. She said it was something that didn’t always come across in the media. She vividly remembered the Afghan children and their excitement for “unlikely treasures”… crayons and scraps of paper they received from American soldiers.

One of the many lessons she learned, while speaking of the Marines, was “you don’t have to be in a group of people to make a difference”. This young marine was so dedicated to her job and her beliefs, she left her family behind to answer a second call of duty. But she said she’s got another family and they are waiting for her back overseas.

Ah, poor me… no cream cheese for my bagel. That article was a much needed slap upside the head!

Smile