Heroes and Humanity

Drew Slater will be the first to tell you he’s no hero. At 23, he will leave soon for basic training in the United States Marine Corps in San Diego. By military standards, he’s getting up there in years. And up to now I hear he’s led a life remarkable mostly in its chain of bad choices, poor decisions and moral uncertainties. I'm not telling tales, that's just about a direct quote from Drew himself. So why choose to join the military?

Drew says, “I want them to break me…and rebuild me into a better man.” I was surprised he was aware of the psychological goals of boot camp and was still anxious to go, given how much I’d heard about the past he was trying to overcome. I would have thought such a young man would fear the discipline and authority he had mostly rejected in his civilian life. I would have been wrong.

The true measure of a man is in his actions and everything about this young man speaks to his future, not his past; from the way his arm slips almost subconsciously around his worried mother’s shoulder to the way he affectionately roughhouses with his young son. He has set perhaps the most important goal of his life and judging by his eager attitude, it doesn’t seem like he’ll have much trouble attaining it.

No, in today’s world the word “hero” is bandied about far too frequently when talking about our troops. I imagine it’s the public’s attempt to turn a brave face toward this global war on terror. Unfortunately, reality has reared its ugly head more than once under scrutiny, and some have not stood up well in the glare of its light. It doesn’t help that many media outlets turn a blind eye to the good being done in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to feed the insatiable appetite of the public.

But that won’t stop me from looking for the good stuff, whether it be a small campaign to generate school supplies for the Iraqi children one of our local units adopted or simply stopping to shake the hand of a man wearing a Vietnam Veterans hat at our annual car show. And sometimes I find the good stuff in the most unlikely of candidates, like Drew Slater, future U.S. Marine.

I’ll keep you posted.