Memorial Day

This is Memorial Day for the US. A similar day for us in Canada is November 11, Remembrance Day, always a hard day for me. Because many of the people I've been talking to in the last few weeks, both for social and business, have been in the US, Memorial Day is at the front of my mind. So today I choose to remember all those I care about who are currently serving in the military. I'm reaching out to each of them to remind them of my love and support.

Perhaps no one knows better what military life is like than someone who has gone through it. While the public sees a portion of it, and our families -- if they want to -- see a little more, only those on the inside know what it's really all about. I have to say that the time I served was one of the best experiences of my life. That's a net gain, because there were parts of it that were simply horrible. But overall, taken as a body of experience and knowledge increase, it was a period of time that I would not trade for anything. I learned lessons about people, organizations, leadership, other countries, cultures, and the world that I could never have learned in any other way. Mostly, I learned a lot about myself, and that was an education that money just can't buy.

I excelled in certain areas of the military, and was abysmally poor at others, but it was a defining period in my life where I learned my limits, and how far I could go in wildly surpassing those limits. I learned that I could take just about anything, and survive just about anything -- and what was needed from within myself to do that. I learned that I had more strength inside me than anyone would have believed -- even me. I learned that there is always a solution to every problem -- sometimes not the solution we would like, but there is one. I learned not to sweat the small stuff, and how to look at big things to realize that they really are just small stuff. I learned that people matter more than anything else, and how we treat other people is the only real goal of our existence.

Sometimes I forget those lessons. I get caught up in day to day life among people whose depth of character resembles a toddler's plastic wading pool, one that is only half full at that. I get distracted by the minutiae that others use to structure their time and their lives, and I get roped into trying to help those who don't want to be helped. I get sidetracked believing that most of the people I encounter day to day have the same level of experience as I do, and when I finally realize that they barely know what life is all about, I feel a sense of loss on their behalf. There is so much more that they don't know!! And still I hope, I believe, and I try -- as futile as that sometimes is. Because that's what we learn in the military -- we learn to deal with all kinds of people to get the job done. We learn to care about our comrades. And we learn to never, NEVER give up.

Thinking of never giving up, my thoughts turn to my serving friends, and I admire them for their courage, their compassion, their persistence in the face of crass stupidity, overwhelming selfishness, and sometimes even collective insanity. I think of my friends in the military and I am grateful to know them, because they are pieces of this crazy quilt that is my life -- integral pieces that remind me that I do have a purpose, and that purpose is to touch the lives of others and to give them whatever I can give. Because, like in the military, we are all in this together, and no one can do it alone.

I think about my friends in uniform, and I send up a prayer to whatever force in the universe handles such things, and I ask for protection and love to always be with those I care about.
To my many friends in the military, wherever you are, be well on this Memorial Day and always. You have a place in my heart where you are always safe, and very much loved.