Over the past year I have interviewed some of the more senior members of my Legion branch. The interviews are published in our branch newsletter, allowing all members to become better acquainted with their comrades.
I have been humbled by the stories these veterans have shared with me. To sit with someone who spent years living with the knowledge that each day, each operation, could be their last and that their friends rely on them to help stay alive under the most harrowing circumstances, makes all the adversity in my life minuscule. And when this was being faced, the facer wasn’t much more than a child, in many cases, a mere teen.
And now these young defenders are seniors, all too often doddering along on arthritic legs or slowing traffic as they negotiate their vehicles through a world that has evolved from crank phones to smart phones in their life time.
I ask that the next time you are tempted to honk at or cuss-out a silver-haired person blocking your way, take a moment to consider that this person may still be grieving friends lost on a battlefield. They certainly deserve our respect and have earned our patience.