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The Sack Lunches
I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my
assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight.. 'I'm glad I
have a good
book to read, Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.
Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and
filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me, I decided
to
start a conversation. 'Where are you headed?' I asked the
soldier seated nearest to me.
'Petawawa. We'll be there for
two weeks for special training,
and then we're being deployed to
Afghanistan
After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that
sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be
several
hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch
would
help pass the time..
As I reached for my wallet, I overheard soldier ask his buddy if
he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of money
for
just a sack lunch... Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll
wait
till we get to base '
His friend agreed.
I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch.
I walked to the back of the plane and handed the
flight attendant a
fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch
to all those soldiers.' She grabbed
my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she
thanked
me. 'My son was a soldier in Iraq
; it's almost like you are doing it for him.'
Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the
soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which
do you
like best - beef or chicken?'
'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked.
She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute
later with a dinner plate from first class. This is your
thanks.'
After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane,
heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. 'I saw what you
did. I
want to be part of it. Here, take this...' He handed me
twenty-five
dollars..
Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain
coming
down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I
hoped he
was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the
numbers
only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped,
smiled,
held out his hand, and said, 'I want to shake your hand.'
Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain's
hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was a soldier and I was a
military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act
of kindness
I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from
all
of the passengers.
Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my
legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached
out
his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five
dollars
in my palm.
When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane.
Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me,
put
something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without
saying a word.
Another twenty-five dollars!
Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for
their
trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them
seventy-five
dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base. It will
be
about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.'
Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of
their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I
whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were
giving their all for our country. I could only give them a
couple of meals.
It seemed so little...
A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a
blank
check made payable to 'The United
States of America ' for an amount of
'up to and including my life.'
That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country
who no longer understand it.'
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Before he started the business
This should be required reading for every man, woman and child
in the United States of America .
"I'm 63 and Im Tired"
by Robert A. Hall
I'm 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were
scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but
job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18.
Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks,
and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a
good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I
worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no
retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth"
to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told
the government will take the money I earned, by force if
necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.
I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to
"keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or
got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at
three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on
one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters
who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act
that created the bubble help them with their own money.
I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing
millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood
Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities
America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the
United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of
the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico , the
tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of
speech of Venezuela .
I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace,"
when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men
killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family
"honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims
murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of
Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage
rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the
genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the
Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.
I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the
post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in
affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation
standards for minorities (harming them the most), government
contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of
violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than
anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois.
I think it's very cool that we have a black president and
that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where
Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the
black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in
freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing
government.
I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and
inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at
triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising
daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is
a great example for the public to control weight and stress;
that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but
never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with
two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but
touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best
president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their
subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't
vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his
camp in 2004.
I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other
cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund
mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America
, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue
or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and
tolerance.
I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to
fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife
and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five
miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our
daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about
5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green
enough.
I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease,
and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage
they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them,
and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight
it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn
sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of
harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell
them I never tried marijuana.
I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented
workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living
on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers,
"Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against
Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few
hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my
religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any
Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal
record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or
who serves honorably for three years in our military. Those are
the citizens we need.
I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never
wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their
entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing
our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having
to make split-second decisions under life and death
circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do
bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes
misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that
were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and
still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself
be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on
terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let
themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured
and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who
tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in
Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda
torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut
off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls
were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American
soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to
for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner
on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read
the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling
me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the
"Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public
for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.
I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and
politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes,
stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they
think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people
with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with
air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The
majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't
know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the
definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.
I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for
their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the
government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their
problems.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because,
mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are
making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five
terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.
There is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each
of us sends it on!
This is your chance to make a difference.
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