OT: Reality Check
Friends, I am having a difficult time giving a shit about the market this week...for reasons I will quickly explain because I feel they are important. Important because they are part of the reason you are all ABLE to invest in the market at all, QCOM included.
I just returned from a reunion in Houston of my father's 381st Bomb Group, Ridgewell, England. He and men like him, flew B-17's over German targets during WWII.
I lost both my Dad and Mom over the past several years, but felt I have lost them all over again after being with all of their friends. As I sat and listened to men who flew with my father and the women who kept families together back home, I saw my own parents in their eyes...and I lived WWII as if I had been there. Impossible, but true.
We owe so much to those guys who fought for our freedom...and those who held strong on the home front. When the war was over, they tried as best they could to put the pieces back together and raise us as best they could. That took more than I think any of us will ever know.
I was standing by a man who flew with my Dad while two B-17's took off at the air show we were watching. The prop wash pushed us back and the smell of burning fuel soaked into our skin. I turned and my companion was crying as all the old memories came back.
We hugged. I said thank you for all the sacrifices he gave for our generation. He looked at me and said, "we lost so many friends...so many horrible things happened there..."
We talked for a long time.
The memory of that time and all the rest have kept me from focusing on anything else.
Through eyes that often well up with tears, I am trying to go through my Dad's photographs and letters from Mom to put order to the historical treasure I have in boxes around me. Dad was a squadron CO so he has quite a few records. As I read and look...I realize that after 35 missions, there was no reason why I should have been born...most of the original men of the 381st died in the line of duty.
Friends, I don't know what generation you call from, but if your parents helped fight for this country in whatever capacity...go to them and thank them. Do so while they are still alive. We owe them everything.
Godspeed,
Rick
<H> |
