Saturday, June 6, 2009

Thoughts on things

I just heard on the radio the other day about an Army quad amputee - so I googled, and the soldier is PFC Brendan Marrocco, from Staten Island, NY. He was in a convoy Easter morning when they got hit. Apart from having his l. arm below the elbow, r. arm above, both legs above the knee, his l.carotid artery severed, burned on his face, stitches, shrapnel in his eye.. the guy was in bad shape. And these young men willingly put themselves in danger.. Why? because their country and sense of honor calls them to do it. Its their duty, when their country sends them, they go. It's "their war" much as during my father's time, WW2 was "their war". He joined the Navy as soon as he could, and got shipped overseas to occupied Japan. My uncle went to VMI, and went overseas to Italy, got captured, spent the rest of the war in a camp up in Germany. Why? Because it was their duty to their country. Boys were lying about their age during WW2 to go off to war, there were 15 and 16 year olds in the services, and there was a 14 year old (I believe the youngest to serve). They were proud to serve their country, and fight for their country.

Jump to today. Too many today are ashamed to be Americans, and would not dream of giving up their cushy life for a life of even remotely having to do hard work. Heaven forbid they give up a night's sleep to actually work all day, then work that night, and then get some sleep the next day.

The Depression generation worked hard, so that their children and grandchildren would not have to go through the troubles that they did, the shortages, and the not being able to get what you want when you want it. I can see wanting to make life easier for your children, but in this, I think they did the generation after them a great disservice. Look at the children of the 'boomers'.. the 50s, 60s. The "me" generation. What's in it for me? What can it do for me? Not what can I do for someone else? How is this going to affect others? It's all about the 'me me me'. And this continues on in each successive generation. How can we turn this about? I don't have all the answers. If I did, I'd write a book and become famous and wealthy lol. My idea - listen to what great-grandma says about raising children - not what Dr. Spock says about raising children. You're NOT their friend. You're their parent. Act like it. Don't let them rule the roost. Think benevolent dictatorship. And have babydaddy around. Marry the dude. Go back to what the basics are.

3 comments:

  1. Brendan is my relative. It's really nice to see that people are finding out about what happened to him and actually care.

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  2. Brendan should be held up as a role model - he didn't back down, and he's hanging in there. He's in my prayers. If you're in contact with him, tell him that there's people out there that are rooting for him.

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  3. Brendan was one of my patients. He is the most good-spirited young men I have ever met in my medical career. I will never forget him for the rest of my life. He is so motivated and I admire him for that. It is amazing how he's recovering, but he has a wonderful supportive family too.

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