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Thursday, October 11, 2012

On Fear and Thanks and Doing the Right Thing

Jean Sexton muses:

Many of you know that I currently live near Fayetteville, North Carolina, home to Ft. Bragg, a very large U.S. Army base. The military has had a living presence in my life for nearly 30 years. In addition, both my father and my brother served in the armed forces. Both of the Steves have a military background.

I've never been one for doing things in person. I wage my wars with words to try to let people understand what I believe. I've helped with donations to Operation Cookie Drop to make sure our soldiers don't miss out on a taste of home: Girl Scout cookies. I'm not particularly brave about doing confrontational (or potentially confrontational) activities.

Recently three National Guardsmen from North Carolina were killed in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. A group of people has chosen to exercise their constitutional rights and to hold protests in conjunction with the funerals of these murdered soldiers. To me, this is morally reprehensible even if it is legal. To me, we owe these soldiers honor for their sacrifice and we owe their families respect for their loss.

This set up a conundrum for me -- how do I show my thanks and still deal with my fears. The answer was that I had to do the right thing or how else could I look at myself in the morning. Therefore on Saturday morning I shall be in Raeford, North Carolina to show my respect to Staff Sergeant Donna Johnson's family. This isn't a counter-protest against the protesting group (except by totally shunning them and denying them publicity); it is paying my respects to a family who has lost a loved one.

So many of our customers are or have been in the military. When I have been most afraid or alone, they have chased away the dark for me through kindness and humor. When one of their own needs my presence, how can I deny it? I thank them all for showing me the right path, not by their words, but rather by their deeds.