Happy Sunday:
In the last week the following events happened (with brief commentary).
1. My dad had heart surgery without my knowledge. Why did I not know? Because he and my mom didn’t want to stress me out during the Core Summit.
2. I rode on an elevator with a veteran who won the congressional medal of honor (one of 79 alive to have received it). Did he tell me this? No….He was simply a nice old man who was interested in asking me about my day (me not so much), and then when he exited the elevator the other man he was with looked at me and said “Son, you were just talking to an America Hero” and gave me the details.
3. I watched yesterday a dear friend of mine, and huge referral partner say good bye to his wife of 53 years with the final comment “She was beautiful the day I met her, and she was beautiful the day I had to say good bye”.
Perhaps it’s just me but sometimes my overly important world is just too busy to talk to our elders. Their pace is a little slower, they have a little more time to chat, and sometimes it just doesn’t fit in my calendar. Kim and I spent a good amount of time yesterday after the service talking about this. It is true that folks in their 70’s and beyond would be considered “over the hill” but it doesn’t mean that their hills weren’t 2-3 times the size of our hills. My dad was an officer in Vietnam, he was on 3 tours, he was subject to Agent Orange in Da Nang Harbor when it blew up….and although that doesn’t define him, he and others are certainly deserving of our respect (my respect).
This is coming as we celebrate memorial day and although the timing works, it’s something I need to spend more time thinking about vs. one or two weekends a year, and what these weekends really mean and why they were created. For me it’s less about the recognition of people that fought in previous wars (although they deserve all the respect in the world) but more about respecting our elders and honoring them…and never forgetting just because they might have a few more wrinkles, and talk a little slower, they have experienced more than me, and for that I should look to them for advice and friendship.
Lets see if we all can’t use this weekend to say hi with a little more meaning, or say “thank you” to the old guy proudly wearing his Veteran’s hat. We ask and demand that our children respect us and show us respect…I think we should feel the same way about how we treat our elders.
Have a great rest of the weekend and thanks for reading.