So, you enlist in the US military hoping to serve your country, carry on a family tradition, get college benefits, find a job or a number of other reasons. We all had a motivation of some kind. But whats important here is we volunteered. A draft has not been in effect since the Vietnam War. I had my eyes on a career in law enforcement. I knew the Army was a great stepping stone and time spent serving would benefit me when sending out future resumes. I would never have guessed it would steer me on my current path. Sometimes things don't work out the way you planned. You think the life of a soldier is hard? The life of an ex-soldier is 1000 times harder!!!
While carrying out your duty you are attacked. It's something we know can happen but never really think of the reality of it's consequences. It's a scary moment and one that you will never forget. Someone is trying to end your life. It's powerful! Man versus man in a fight to the death. The concept is something that's not new to our society. We watch it on television, on the movie screen or on the Internet. But when it happen s to you and it's real, that's a whole new ball game. It's in moments like this that one thinks about life in general. The small things that we take for granted seem like miracles in moments like that. What was once a heavy burden of a problem all of a sudden seems so simplistic and minute. The problems of yesterday come to light and you think to yourself how easy these obstacles will be to overcome in the future.
That was then. At a moment in time when nothing but survival was on your mind. Do or die! But over time these feelings begin to subside and you start slipping back into our cushy little society and the way of life as an American. Our technology and style of living has made us lazy and forces us to take for granted many things that the rest of the world struggle with on a day to day basis. We have it made! We have cars, good housing, public transportation, water, accessibility to food unlike anywhere else in the world, comfort in a peaceful society and freedom to do pretty much anything we want within the confines of the law.
So today I remember the small things in life. For 10s of thousands of years humans have struggled with things that we take for granted today. Health, FOOD, fresh water and shelter. Not to mention survival was dependant on your ability to hunt and locate fresh water. Then there were times that you were no longer the hunter, but instead became the hunted. It's primitive, but reality.
My chicken has been in the refrigerator for 5 days now. I'm wondering if I should still cook it. Wow, did I just say that? What about a hunter 5000 years ago that was LUCKY enough to find a chicken. Do you think he would throw away that chicken? Is it still good? Ya more than likely. Once baked it will kill most of the bacteria. I need to change a light bulb so I don't have to start a camp fire in my living room. I need to go buy some food so I'll get in my Mustang and drive to the store instead of walking 4 days to reach a trade market or hunt with a bow and arrow for a single portion of food. I need to clean the windows in my house versus living among flies, mosquito's, wild animals and rain showers. My shelter, although modest, all of a sudden takes on a new perspective. Hey wait, I am truly blessed! I have to put 1/100th the amount of effort that my ancestors had to in order to survive.
I wonder how many people out there know how good they have it. I don't own a garden. I don't have to feed my livestock on a daily basis in order to survive the winter. I don't have to tweed leather and make it into foot protection (shoes). I don't have to walk to the lake to get something to drink. I have a faucet, toilet, stove, refrigerator, bed with blankets, eyeglasses, medicine, lights and most importantly, I have food.
The problems of yesterday all of a sudden seem so small again...
I am now a civilian. There is nobody that wants me dead (at least I hope so). I have an income, shelter, transportation and friends. At one point in time I had motivations about where the military was going to take me. I wanted to be a federal police officer and retire a happy man. All my dreams were smashed with my disabilities. And for so long I have sought purpose, reason and motivation to keep living. The answers were so close and yet so far away. I'm actually happy now and realize that perhaps this is exactly where God wanted me to be and exactly how he wanted me to live. I guess in a way, I doubted Him and even blamed Him for taking so much away from me. But thru His mercy I have been blessed in so many ways. I believe that on the road to recovery, one must first determine his location before he can determine his destination.
As of right now I found my location. My destination is something that I believe will come with time. But my motivation and purpose have changed drastically. I know now that everything that was bad or good, has led me to this moment. What God has taught me I am sharing with you. It's perspective into the unknown. Why are bad things happening to you? Perhaps everything is working as intended. Take your hands off the wheel and let God drive for a change. Perhaps the road ahead is much better than you can imagine. One day your location will become evident. Then you can determine your destination from there. Until then, keep looking up and have faith!!
No comments:
Post a Comment