July 4th, the security dude, and the family who got it right

i had spoken to him on several occasions at the game. "jeff" was a security dude. he was tall, had short blond hair and was leanly built. we joked about several things. as the game went on, i noticed him interacting with various people in the crowd. most of them were wearing their red, white and blue. he and i started talking on the concourse and some of his parents friends came up. we all were talking when the woman asked how one of their friends was doing better. turns out they were referring to one of his buddies who did a year in iraq with him. he had been affected emotionally and was having a hard time dealing with all he had witnessed. we will never know all these brave men and women in our militaries do for their country. he told about raids and some of the people he interacted with. one day they would be outside the base selling cd's and the next day they would have body bombs strapped on trying to kill you and everybody they could. he got back in december '06 and said he would gladly go back if called. my first reaction was "why" but deep inside i knew why. after a while, i offered my hand, shook his and thanked him for all he did for us. in a soft, low key way he said "you're welcome".
at this game there were several bus loads of soldiers. after the game, they all lined up outside the gates to get on their buses. sergeants would bark orders and they would trot single file to their bus and get on. after they loaded all the buses, they started to drive off. as they drove off, i noticed on family of 5-6 who were standing there clapping as they went by. they were the only ones out of over 10,000 people to honor these men and women this way. it is something we should do every time we see on of them. i was moved to witness this 30 second event. i thanked God i live in America. despite all of our differences and challenges that face us, this is still the best place on earth to live and breathe free air. thank God!!!
until next time...