Just For One Day
On a normal Monday most of us get up early in the morning and head out to work or school. This is not a normal Monday because today is Memorial Day, and if you are anything like me you treat Memorial Day pretty much the way I do — a freebie which allows us to miss work or school. No more. Thanks to a good friend of mine who sent me an email describing his Memorial Day/Veterans Day tradition, I will never again not give this day the respect it demands and deserves.
My buddy told me how every Memorial Day he reads the citation on the Medal of Honor awarded to Lance Corporal Jedh Colby Barker who gave his life in 1967 fighting for his country in Vietnam. Jedh Colby Barker was just a kid from the neighborhood who unselfishly gave his life while saving the lives of his comrades in arms. My friend explained how reading the citation helped him appreciate the ultimate sacrifice so many give so we could live in a country like ours. Not surprisingly, reading the citation moves him to tears every time. He is not alone.
On many occasions I have referred to sports figures I admire as “heroes.” Well, I was wrong. While they are certainly “sports heroes,” to call them heroes is an insult to the ones who deserve that title. I have to chuckle when a football player says, “Every Sunday we strap on the helmet and got to WAR!!” Well, no you don’t. You play a game. And while it is true you play it at a level few can achieve, in the end, it is still just a game (a game which pays you millions of dollars, I might add).
No, the real heroes are the parents who work long, hard hours in order to send their kids to school so they can enjoy a better life than they had; or the teacher who goes out of his or her way to give that extra attention to a child in order for them to become all they can be; or like the 343 New York City firefighters who risked and gave their lives on that horrible September morning when the towers came down. These are the heroes, these are the men and women who get paid very little, who don’t seek the limelight and are willing to perform unbelievably selfless acts in order to help their fellow man, even if that man or woman is unknown to them. So, what makes a hero? It’s been said that a hero and a coward have one thing in common — fear. To find that certain something from deep within to overcome that fear, well, there you have it.
A hero is Pat Tillman, a man who played professional football, but gave up the fame, the fortune and all that being a big-time athlete brings in order to do what he believed he had to do. So, take a minute today to remember all those men and women who served in our military so we could live free in the greatest country on earth. If you believe in prayer, then by all means say one for all who have served and are serving this very minute. Here is a link — http://www.history.army.mil/moh.html — that has the text from every one of the 3,515 men who have received this nation’s highest honor (and one woman, Mary Edwards Walker, from the Civil War).
Take a seat (trust me on this one) and click on any name. You simply will not believe the heroic acts these brave men — no, these “heroes” — have performed. Go to World War II and click on Audie Murphy’s name. All this guy did was become Audie Murphy (movie star); the young man who became the most decorated U.S. soldier in World War II by killing 240 German soldiers, getting wounded three times and leaving the Army with 33 awards and medals, all by the age of 21. Or, better yet, read about the last day on earth of Lance Corporal Jedh Colby Barker. My mistake; hero Jedh Colby Barker.
Just a kid from the neighborhood.
ııı
Doug Berlin, a Jamestown resident, is a fan of the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Celtics and the Washington Redskins, but he’s an even bigger fan of Jedh Colby Barker.
COMMENTS