While delayed in Houston by bad weather on a recent trip, Sandy and I struck up a conversation with a nice couple. When their plane was called, they walked away only to have one of them come back to hand me a card. On one side was “Thank you for your service and dedication to our country.” The back read, “Dear American Hero, I am not certain as to how to express my gratitude for all you have done to secure my freedom. Please accept this simple token of my appreciation. Signed, a grateful American citizen.”
To say I was humbly grateful would be to put it mildly. Praise God for thoughtful people who plan ahead for opportunities to show kindness to old veterans such as me.
While I do not consider myself one, there are many heroes among us today, most living quietly and peacefully in our beautiful country. Thousands of our fellow citizens, some now very elderly have served our beloved country in far off and dangerous places to defend the freedoms we cherish and take for granted.
As the writer George Orwell wrote, “We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”
Have you taken the opportunity to say thanks to a veteran lately? May I urge you to do so?
Woody Hughes is a retired US Nave captain and chaplain for Lake County Military Funeral Honors Team.
