Heroes

Nicole's school this month is saluting heroes. We went to a night time assembly at the school where the principle spoke and said that they had done a survey with the students to ask who their heroes were and I was shocked to know that the general concesses was that the kids said their parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters were their heroes. I guess I thought that they might name sports figures or movie stars, but it did my heart good to hear that wasn't true.

On the same token I'm not sure I feel adequate to be my child's hero, that's a big bill to fill. But now that I know, it means that I will definitely have to think before acting. But aside from that I know that Nicole says her brothers and sister are her heroes and today she had her brother Derek come to school as her hero.

She asked Derek last week if he could come because it was her week to be highlighted, but he had to work. So since Derek was off today he came early and we walked over to Nicole's school together. He wore his military fatigues and you could tell Nicole was very proud to have her brother walking with her to school because she wanted to be right by him.

Derek told the kids he was active duty for 3 1/2 years during which time he spent 1 year in Iraq and is now in the reserves. He then showed them on the map where Iraq is so that kids could see it was about half way around the world. He had brought some pictures that he had taken over there (which his wife Ashley had put on to pages) so the kids could see what it was like over there.

He answered questions like, "What's your favorite weapon?" (I wondered how he would respond to this one) he said "Any weapon that helps keep me and my buddies safe." "What do you like best about the army?" he said "That they take care of their own and we are a close knit family." " What did you hate the most about being in Iraq?" Derek said, "Most of the soldiers didn't mind being over there but they wished they could freeze time while they were there so they weren't missing out on birthdays, holidays and other special events. It's also hard leaving family behind that worry about you and have no way of contacting you. You hate to have them worrying about you."

Derek talked about giving service back to the Iraqi people in the form of medical care, helping them dig wells, fix buildings and other things to improve their way of life. One thing I learned is that Derek said before the U.S. came to Iraq that girls weren't allowed to go to school but that since then they have been given the opportunity. He did try to impress upon the kids how great we have it here. And in closing he did tell them that no matter what they wanted to be when they grow up that they will need a good education and so it's very important for them to study hard and learn all that they can learn.

I do know that Derek is one of my heroes. That he would give years of his life for our country and risk his own life to keep this country free and possibly bring freedom to the Iraqi people to me is beyond comprehension. I am still grateful that he returned home safely and I'm grateful for the many men and women still giving their time and even lives for this cause.

God Bless America and all of it's Heroes!