Ideas can spread quickly across the blogosphere. Today I’d like to go out on a limb and float a baloon. This is something that I've wrestled a lot about whether or not to post.
Have you thanked a soldier lately?
I'm a Canadian and also proud to be in the United States. In fact I am currently working on naturalizing to become a United States citizen. I often travel and sometimes with Lenn. A few weeks back when Lenn and I were in the valley on a customer visit he lost me in the airport. Later to find me stopped with my bags dropped, shaking the hands of a few American soldiers. Lenn joked ,”Jeff, you’re more American than me.” :-)
Many of our troops start and end their Iraq Tour via our civilian airports. They are hard to miss wearing the desert fatigues. So, whenever I see a soldier I try to go over and give a quick thank you and get out of their way.
Everyone in America is entitled to their beliefs and is free to voice their opinions of the war. But, when you see a soldier in the airport can you please take a moment to say thank you?
Today, I walked by the airport bar and saw three military men dress head to toe in desert gear. They were Pete, John and Tim who were 30 minutes away to shipping out to Iraq. I bought them a drink, exchanged email addresses and wished them the best. It was touching, I am so proud of these guys.
Unfortunately they told me that this never happens and often people look away when they are seen in the airports. :-( Pete, promises to send me some photos once they get over which was a very kind offer, totally unnecessary, but very nice.
Living in the world of software it is easy to get wound up in the latest fire drill or priority 1 software “emergency”. I forget how good life is over here being safe and sound.
So regardless of whether or not you agree or disagree with war, the next time you see a soldier could you shake there hand or buy them a beer? Or even better spread the idea?
Thank you (shields up)
