It's just occurred to me that perhaps the biggest thing my dad ever did for me, as far as shaping the person I am today, was to be a life member of the VFW and the American Legion and the DAV. We received all their magazines when I was growing up, and since I was always hungry for reading material, I devoured them.
Oh, I'll freely admit that I ignored the policy discussions- they left me cold. But I always read the historical pieces, and thus learned about the history of our military, and the battles they had fought. And I absorbed something in those readings, without ever realizing it. The concept of "Duty. Honor. Country." The concept of belonging to something greater than myself, and the responsibility of doing my share to preserve that greater something.
What prompted this realization today? A blog by Andrew Olmstead, wherein he shares quotations that have benefitted him as a commander.
As I read the words he quoted, I was reminded of all the reading I had done as a child, and I saw the similarities between those words and the ones I was reading today.
So I just wanted to take the chance to say "thank you, Dad, for being a Marine, and a patriot, and my daddy."
hat tip to The Mudville Gazette
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