This is my fourth year of publishing an article on Memorial Day. I'm always surprised by the reaction that I receive each time I write one of these. I've received emails from total strangers saying how they can relate to the context of my article or how my article gave a person the courage to speak to their parent about the parent's war experiences.
Today, I started my Memorial Day like every other one in recent memory. I went outside and sat under the tree in my front yard just to have some time to myself to reflect on the meaning of the day. I search my memory to honor the men that I watched die. I always take time to pray for all those who have given their life for our country. Personally, I've only witnessed the deaths of a couple of handfuls of soldiers but I always remember to be true to the meaning of the day and pray for everyone who has given their lives.
Then, I began thinking about the reactions of various people that I met this weekend. Usually, this is a relatively quiet weekend for me but not this year. You see, I attended the World Internet Summit in Dallas from Thursday through Sunday. There were hundreds of people there trying to learn how to make money on the Internet.
I took the advice of some Veteran organizations and wore one of my Purple Hearts each day. The purpose of wearing your medals in public is to remind people that this is a weekend to honor our fallen soldiers rather than to focus on sales at the local mall. The reactions I received were varied and confusing.
Some people came up to me and simply shook my hand and thanked me for my service. Others came up and asked me what the medal was and why was I wearing it everyday. There were people from other countries who had no clue what a Purple Heart was. One lady told me that I was a "political activist" and that I shouldn't be trying to inject politics into an Internet training event.
On the night of the "networking" event, I had lots of people who wanted to talk about my military experiences rather than follow the agenda (which was to find other people who could help you in your online business).
Probably the most touching part of the event was at the end when people were taking pictures with other attendees. People kept coming up to me and asking me if I would have my picture taken with them. Most were other veterans or simply people who found it refreshing that someone would take the time to wear a medal just to remind them what the weekend was all about. I think as many people thanked me for reminding them of the sentiment as thanked me for my service. That actually blew me away.
You have to remember that I am a Viet Nam veteran and we aren't used to people thanking us for our service. In fact, most of us weren't greeted well after our war. I know many fellow veterans who fought in Viet Nam who purposely never told anyone that they were even in Viet Nam simply to avoid a confrontation.
There were also several soldiers staying at the hotel who were spending the night before being shipped out to Iraq. I took the time to meet every one of them and thank them for their service. In fact, I happened to have some copies of my book, Wake Up... Live The Life You Love: Finding Life's Passion in my car so I autographed a copy for each of the soldiers and gave it to them so they would have something to read on their trip.
This year, I decided to write an article that wouldn't make anyone cry. I want to be as upbeat as I can about a day that means so much to me. Here's what I learned from my experiences this weekend: that next year, I'm going to wear a medal everyday when I go out in public. The only way you can change the world is to take action with an end result in mind.
I'll keep wearing my medals and I'll keep writing articles. In fact, since I'm personally mentoring 16 veterans this year for free and teaching them how to use their free veteran benefits to start a business selling products and services to the government, I'm going to encourage each one of them to write their own Memorial Day article for next year.
I hope that each of you took the time to pray for a fallen soldier today. If you didn't, stop what you are doing and say a prayer right now.
It has been an honor writing for you again this year,
Pat Kiggins, The Veteran's Mentor, http://www.patkiggins.com
Pat is a best-selling author, speaker, and is known online as The Veteran's Mentor. Pat is also an accomplished business executive, a proud "Vetrepreneur" and an even prouder parent of four outstanding children. If you would like to know more about Pat, please visit his web site at http://www.patkiggins.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pat_Kiggins http://EzineArticles.com/?Another-Memorial-Day-Tear-Jerker&id=1206841
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