First... I read an article the other day that said telling a Veteran Thank you for your service has become kind of a trite, automatic, and thoughtless sentiment. (I think of bless you when someone sneezes; I dont really bless anyone. Oh, wait, I bless myself, hoping that whatever they sneezed isnt contagious and stuck to me. But, I digress.) It was suggested that you say WHY youre thankful to the Veteran; make it personal. To keep this simple Im choosing to thank Phil Lombardo, my dad. He got up, washed his face and went to work and never really talked about what he did. I grew up not knowing about any of the serious or dangerous stuff that was going on in his world. If he was asked what did you do today? the only answer I remember was I worked my ass off. It was funny to me. Only now do I realize how I got to spend my childhood in ignorant bliss of what was really going on in the world, and what a true blessing that really is. By many (most?) global standards, I grew up privileged to eat every day, to sleep in a bed every night, to have clean running water, to go to school, so sit in front of the TV and watch Captain Kangaroo, and so many other ordinary things. Not only did he earn a paycheck so that our family had money (I also remember at least one time when he took a second, part time job), but the company he chose to work for is in the business of keeping the whole country safe and operational. So for the nights you were away, and I was asleep in my bunk bed; for the days you were away and I was enjoying peanut butter on a spoon; for the years you were away and I was in school with the ungrateful pinko guys booger-eater kid: THANK YOU. My daily tragedies are things that other people would kill for; and because of men and women like you, they wont get the chance to try. Second... (you all thought Id forgotten, huh?) Id like to share my dads post regarding some of what he experienced the year he was in Thailand as an Air Traffic Controller for the US Air Force. Get a cup of coffee and enjoy the read.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:42:36 +0000
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