Veterans Day

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.

'Great Lakes Air Base. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Iraq.'

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 Chicago, 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 Chicago.

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 seat belt 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 in Chicago 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."

Election Is In The Air

As election day approaches those who have not done early voting must really start to consider not only their favorite candidate, but in this election the deeper question of voting. TV adds, your political friends, parents, facebook posts all tell you who you should and should not vote for with countless "facts" to back it up and how atrocious the other candidate is.

Some go on tangents and say they are not voting and blame it on the choices, the electoral college or just being lazy. I truly believe that it is our duty as American's to vote. Not voting regardless of the low quality of choices is wrong. We hear all the time how our ancestors died for this right. Truth is, although that is true for some, many of us are not decedents to any who were here during the revolutionary war, so for them you need another reason. That reason is all over the world, there are people in so many countries wishing they had this gift we take for granted the ability to have a say-no matter how small-in your political system, the ability to go out and vote and not worry about being shot or blown up on the way there. Admittedly, many will say one candidate or the other will take away some or all of this security if they are elected, but at least for now we can go there knowing we have this right that so many dont.

That being said when asked if your vote matters it is all based on perception. Your vote should matter to you, regardless of its low significance in the election as a whole.

Everyone should focus so much more on local elections because even though voting in the presidential election should be done, it should not have your full attention. Local politicians will have far more impact on your life in the short term, especially relative to how much more important your vote is in that election. What I say in the rest of the blog is about national elections, local elections are a different beast. At times it can come down to a few votes, where your vote really could matter. With that being said voting in essence against someone in a local election, although not preferred is understandable. Admittedly I am slightly a hypocrite because the only local elections I know well are in RI and I have never been registered there nor do I live there any longer. Where I am registered I don't live and where I live I don't know much about. My slightly lame excuse is constant moving recently, when I finally settle somewhere I will correct this.

I believe voting should not be against a candidate that you don't like it should be for one that you do. As I already said, purely voting for someone means you are not throwing away your vote regardless of who you vote for (unless you are one of the thousands of people that write in Jesus, I mean I am sure he would probably do a good job, but if we all voted for him who would our president be? - him being dead an all)

So the real question, who did I vote for? I am not one of the many that say Obama and Romney are the same. They are not. They are very different. But if you told me I had to pick between them who would be better......... I have no idea what I would pick. Each side can bash the others, but the truth is, they are both crooked, one won't release his college files (I don't think Obama was born in another country, but I do think he has filled out paperwork that says he was to get extra benefits) and one wont release his tax returns, you only refuse to release something you are embarrassed about.

I refuse to vote for a candidate just because I dont want the other one in, I did it last election and I didn't feel like I did the right thing afterwards. I really and truly believe that voting against a candidate or not voting at all is a true wasted vote.

That being said I am sure you can probably guess at this point who my vote went to. His name is Gary Johnson, I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but I do agree with his honesty and forwardness about what he thinks. He is not someone that caters to which ever crowd that he is in front of (and that is a shot at both candidates not just Romney).

My vote will have no impact on the election, just as it would not have if I voted for either Romney or Obama. It is not in essence a vote for Obama or Romney because I believe there are just as many people who vote for Johnson that would have voted for Romney as for Obama. If everyone that didn't really want either Obama or Romney in office voted for what they really wanted, maybe it would be a close race between Jill Stein (for all those true environmental liberals) Or Stuart Alexander (for all those true socialists) - even though many call Obama a socialist, the only socialist thing he has done is Obamacare, which was modeled after Romneycare, Gary Johnson (for all those moderates out there) and Rush Limbaugh[I know he is not running] (for all those conservatives out there that want someone who always sticks to the party line, not flops from one side to the other).

As I said I dont agree with everything Johnson wants, but you will never agree entirely with one candidate. I do actually like him better than Ron Paul (a sin for any true libertarian, so I guess I am out of that party too) because he takes a more moderate view. The world is not about absolutes but interpreting a million shades of grey (and no I am not referencing 20 shades of grey). Ending the Fed is not the right first step(Paul), but auditing it is(Johnson). Scaling back spending (Johnson) rather than cutting entire departments(Paul) on BOTH military and social programs is necessary to get this country out of a fiscal hole, specifically Paul would get rid of the EPA, Johnson would simply shrink it along with the other departments. Democrats and republicans tend to just shift the same pool of money from one pot to the other. Sadly it appears that none of the three care about the environment much right now with the economy on everyone's mind. So even though it is a sad truth, the environmental topic is not a differentiating factor and if that truly is your only passion, Jill Stein is the candidate for you.

Johnson recognizes that gay rights is part of equal rights and that the 2nd amendment protects the first, not the other way around. Obama saying the second amendment was about hunting was just depressing. The second amendment is about freedom and liberty. And the protection of them both. Saying it is about hunting is like saying voting is about getting a free cookie at the election hall. It’s an added bonus but really has nothing to do with the right. To reduce violence, brought on by a few, you would strip liberty of the many?

Choosing between Obama and Romney is like choosing between government and corporate greed. Both greeds feed on each other, who care's which you start with.

I leave it to wiser men then me to decide if the two party system really is the right solution. Many point out that the Nazi party came to power through this multi-party system (although others would counter that they would have found a way to take control regardless), but I put my trust in John Adams, who agreed with George Washington when he said:
"There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution."