A STORY. A United States Marine came to an awards presentation one night this past week at the high school where our son is graduating. During the awards program, presentations were made to seniors for various scholastic achievements.
There were many awards given that night, with a lot of different presenters, pageantry and special things. Then it came time for this Marine to come on stage.
He walked out on to the stage in dress uniform. Impressive. He stood back from the microphone. One was not needed. He spoke with a strong and bellowing voice. You'd expect that from a Marine.
He stood at attention and without notes delivered a rather long description of the award the Marines was about to present. They had reviewed the backgrounds of the seniors and picked one for outstanding recognition.
They selected one senior they felt exemplified what the U.S. Marines stand for. He gave an articulate description of this person that made you sit up in your chair and take note. The award recognized scholastic excellence, diligence, dedication, superior citizenship, leadership, and that can-do, never quit attitude for which the Marines are known world wide.
I thought to myself how great an achievement that would be for a young person in today's world to be recognized for those traits.
He then announced the individual the Marines selected. In a boisterous voice, he commanded that the young person come forward to receive the award, and to my surprise, he called our son's name.
Mrs. RR and I were stunned. We had no idea.
I cannot describe how I felt seeing him stand up there on the stage getting that kind of an award, especially for the things that award stood for. Hard to describe. It really hit me that my little boy was actually a young man now and that he got this award on his own for being who he is, a really good human being.
Just had to share this story with my Porch friends. Ole Dad shed a tear that night.
RR |
