Today there are so many advertisements and "infomercials' on TV, the radio, and the Internet urging all Americans to spend billions of dollars to make ourselves "feel good about our self".
We are even guaranteed that "you will certainly feel good about yourself" if you lose fifty pounds, or get a "tummy tuck", or shoot a gallon of Botox into your body, or get a face lift, along with other "much needed" plastic surgery. I mean, really, we can even get our body fat frozen off to make you look younger.
Of course this will all make you feel so much better about yourself, and isn't this what we all strive for? Yes, we've become a society, in many cases, that has become so selfish to make ourselves "feel good; that we'll resort to spending billions on superficial and selfish ways to accomplish this.
Please give me a few minutes to tell you what my wife and I did two days ago that will forever make us feel good about ourselves.
This past Monday evening we went to bed at 7:00, and arose Tuesday morning at 1:00 A.M.
We drove fifty miles to the Cleveland airport, where we volunteered to greet and meet 25 WWII, Korean, and Viet Nam veterans that began to arrive starting at 3:30 A.M., at the Southwest airlines baggage terminal.
They were there to catch the Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. to see the War Memorials in our nation's capitol.
I could fill ten pages of blogs sharing the heart warming experiences with these heroes. We arranged wheel chairs for them, served them coffee, donuts, and rolls. Some shared pictures they brought with them of their days in the military, and told stories of their deeds. Some even shed tears remembering their fallen comrades that didn't make it back after the wars.
My wife and I greeted each one of them with "thank you for your service....can I get you some coffee"? The oldest hero there was a 96-year old WWII vet that was so humbly gracious and gratified to be on his was to see the WWII War Memorial in D.C.
It felt so rewarding to pay homage to these 25 veteran heroes. It was so gratifying to know we were making these heroes feel good, that, in turn, we felt good about ourselves for doing this deed. We didn't need Botox or plastic surgery to make us feel good about ourselves. We felt good deep down because we spent four hours with just focusing on others.
Then the Cleveland Coast Guard, fifteen officers, arrived, and we pledged to the flag and sang our national anthem. soon, the Southwest airlines flight attendant arrived, and as she handed each of the vets their plane ticket and boarding pass she gave each one a kiss on the cheek. It was then that tears started to flow.
For me the tears came as we pushed the wheel chairs of vets through the terminal gates, in a two-by-two formation. We passed several gates of passengers awaiting their own flight boardings. As we passed through the gates passengers stood, applauded, and sent out cheers to the honored vets.
We clapped as each of the vets were helped from their wheel chair and boarded their Honor Flight to D.C. When the last vet boarded the plane my wife and I hugged the other volunteers, said our goodbyes and headed for home. We stopped at a small breakfast diner on the way home, and shed tears as we ate, telling each other stories of the particular veterans we talked to.
We agreed that in just four short hours at the Cleveland airport we never had such an uplifting experience. My wife and I encourage everyone to contact an Honor Flight representative in your area and volunteer. It will certainly be one of your most rewarding experiences, and I guarantee you'll feel very good about yourself, without spending a dime.
And that's Politics with Pete for today....God bless our country...and our troops.
