I have to say….

This has nothing to do with me, or our life in Alaska, but this hit me like a truck last week and I had to share it.

The seed was planted his junior year of college. He sat motionless on his sofa, silently watching the second tower fall. The slow descent of the tower coincided with a tear rolling down his face. The son of a Marine officer, he had been raised to love his country. He had always known that he was a proud American, but he had never been aware of the intensity of his loyalty until that day that he realized that his country was under attack. The ringing of his cell phone jarred him from his shock. He looked at the phone and saw that he had been watching in shock for 38 minutes and that his dad was trying to reach him. The next several days left him feeling bewildered and angry. He sensed that his country needed him, and he wished that his final three semesters would pass swiftly.

He finally found purpose the day he saw the men from NYFD hang the America flag on the metal beam sticking up out of the ruins. He knew the instant that he saw that flag blowing in the winds of lower Manhattan that he would follow that flag into battle and that his destiny was set in stone.