Catharsis
Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:30 pm
It's just about every day that you can learn something about yourself, or remember something you may have forgotten. Today was one of those days for me.
When I joined the Legion back in 2005, I was numero quatro in the SGF area. I had tried to join the legion prior to my Iraq deployment and then I was, well, deployed. Most everyone, if not everyone, in the Legion knows about the events of August 2005 when Katie Johnson lost her battle. I can not tell you how many days I cried after that. I have hugged my kids every night since and when I tuck them in I always tell them I love them. I never leave the house without doing the same thing.
On to my reason for posting. In nearly 16 years of Army service I have visited a lot of kids in hospitals or even at their houses because they wanted to meet an "army guy." It is those visits that I wish I had my tk helmet on to hide the tears (remembering that I'd have to make sure I didn't have an amp on.)
Children are my kryptonite. I'd rather spend the rest of my life back in Iraq with no weapon and no body armor than have to go through what Albin and his family (and so many others I've met) did. Since I've been back from Iraq I've had a lot of people tell me that it takes a special kind of person to do what I did. Or many other things that include bravery, courage, etc. While any, or all, of that may be true, I don't see it. What I do see and will fully acknowledge at any time, is that the parents of these children and the siblings of these children are the strongest people I've ever met, and the children are more brave and courageous than any one I've ever met in any branch of the military.
This came up for several reasons, but the major one being that I cry every time I see the RT-KT patch or the droid. I'm not afraid nor ashamed to admit it and I know there are others that feel the same.
Oh crap, I've got to go, I'm tearing up again.
I just wanted to say that the catharsis of making a child smile, sick or otherwise, is one of the greatest feelings in the world... and when you have made a child smile one day and they are no longer with us the next, it is also one of the saddest moments I have ever felt.
When I joined the Legion back in 2005, I was numero quatro in the SGF area. I had tried to join the legion prior to my Iraq deployment and then I was, well, deployed. Most everyone, if not everyone, in the Legion knows about the events of August 2005 when Katie Johnson lost her battle. I can not tell you how many days I cried after that. I have hugged my kids every night since and when I tuck them in I always tell them I love them. I never leave the house without doing the same thing.
On to my reason for posting. In nearly 16 years of Army service I have visited a lot of kids in hospitals or even at their houses because they wanted to meet an "army guy." It is those visits that I wish I had my tk helmet on to hide the tears (remembering that I'd have to make sure I didn't have an amp on.)
Children are my kryptonite. I'd rather spend the rest of my life back in Iraq with no weapon and no body armor than have to go through what Albin and his family (and so many others I've met) did. Since I've been back from Iraq I've had a lot of people tell me that it takes a special kind of person to do what I did. Or many other things that include bravery, courage, etc. While any, or all, of that may be true, I don't see it. What I do see and will fully acknowledge at any time, is that the parents of these children and the siblings of these children are the strongest people I've ever met, and the children are more brave and courageous than any one I've ever met in any branch of the military.
This came up for several reasons, but the major one being that I cry every time I see the RT-KT patch or the droid. I'm not afraid nor ashamed to admit it and I know there are others that feel the same.
Oh crap, I've got to go, I'm tearing up again.
I just wanted to say that the catharsis of making a child smile, sick or otherwise, is one of the greatest feelings in the world... and when you have made a child smile one day and they are no longer with us the next, it is also one of the saddest moments I have ever felt.