if not me, then who?

....if not me, then who?



The person in the office next to me is a very good person. I have known him for 20 years. I have watched his children grow up over that time. He is my sounding board, my mirror and at times my contrast. I owe much to the shaping of my beliefs to the talks I have had with him. He has a son. He actually has two girls and two boys, but this is about the oldest boy. Knowing what I know of my friend; I find it easy to understand what his son did.

His son joined the Marines two years ago. During the worst of Iraq, the upturn in Afghanistan violence, he stood up and took the cause, took the pledge. He told me the reason. His son told me, "If not me, who is going to fight for our freedom? "...If not me, who is going to fight for our country?" If not me...... I have yet to forget that statement, more so I have yet to forget the power of the words, the scope of the ideal, the truth in the cost of freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

(Do not bother arguing war and peace or anything else one finds to meddle in, that is not the focus of the story)

He came to our work place today. He brought pictures and videos from his first tour of duty. I watched in awe. Not in awe of war, destruction, killing; in awe of sacrifice. I cannot tell you details of what I saw, not important anyway. I took away many things from the slide show he did for us but the amazement for me comes from the knowledge that people can do what they do, when surrounded on all fronts by those that seek to stop them. When you are shot at on a daily basis, when the next step could always be the last one, not knowing where the next IED is hidden, how would you cope? Watching the videos of the Marines interacting with each other, confronting situations that they found and the very normal and serene way they dealt with them was truly ........ a bit overwhelming.

They live, they survive, and they move forward, they cope. They find ways to make it normal, and if not normal, simply bearable at times works. What I saw was young men that believed in what they were doing and wanted to do it well. Young men sacrificing a very large part of their life, perhaps a part of their morality, certainly a part of their youth and perspective.

I am a proud parent, I will always be proud of my children. But, if my son could someday live his life, make his choices with the same conviction of creed and character, I will be a very proud father. To stand in the face of fear, a chance of death and a greater chance of injury, to say I will do it so that another will not have to; I stand in awe.

...if not me, then who?