“I’ve been waiting 45 minutes,” I announced abruptly to the woman at the check-in desk. I was a little more than annoyed. I had arrived at Dr. Richard Andorsky’s office at 11:15 PM. It was now noon.
I was led back to his assistant Pat to reschedule the appointment.
“He’s just finishing up with the patient in front of you,” she offered, “if you want to wait just a few more minutes you could probably see him today or I can go ahead and reschedule for you.”
As if on cue Dr. Androsky and the patient were now standing just behind me. I followed the doc back to his office.
“I’m sorry,” he said as we both sat down, “we just got behind today.”
I know this happens. I was past the annoyance now. I was getting done what I had come for and that was far better than having to reschedule and come and do this on another day. This isn’t the type of thing I could say I was really looking forward to anyway.
In short order we wrapped up our business and as I was walking out of his office my eyes were drawn to a framed medal hanging on the wall. I believe it was a Meritorious Service Medal.
He told me that since we took care of our business so quickly he might be able to get a little caught up now. We shook hands and I headed out the door.
It wasn’t until I was back in my car that my thoughts returned to that medal by the door. It was Veterans Day and I had forgotten to thank him for his service.
It’s not too late.
Happy Veterans Day Dr. Andorsky!
Thank you, and all the other veterans out there, for your service.
The Gift of Human Kindness
16 hours ago
9 comments:
I think Americans should follow like other nations and pay a bit more respect. I like the idea that Canadians have by wearing the poppy from Nov 1st through November 11th or at least on Nov 11th. This clearly visible symbol helps provide more of a reminder.
Selling the poppies for whatever a person wants to donate also helps raise funds for Vets and their families.... EXCELLENT IDEA!!
It must be nice to be a politician. If you pick a fight with another nation, you can send some brave and competent person into battle for you.
Freemarket, I'm sure you would have had your trusty shotgun out when the Nazis came over the wall and started kicking over your bee hives. If you are true to your credo, I'm sure you have a basement full of guns.
As we like to say in my former line of work, riffing on "Night of the Living Dead," "You can never have too many bullets when the Zombies arrive."
Now, a dose of reality.
Thank you for your Thank You on the blog. My wife and I are both veterans. My father and uncle served in WWII in the Pacific, as did all of their friends, most of whom has passed on now.
My father rode on a lot of B-24s as he travelled around the Pacific and South America. He always said he like them a lot better than B-17s, because they carried a lot more fuel! He was an engineer, btw, who specialized in anti-aircraft optics.
My grandfather and two great uncles served in WWI. One of them was blinded in one eye by Mustard Gas, but you should have seen him shoot quail with that other eye. They got to the U.S. of A in 1912, so that's as far back as we go.
None of them were drafted.
One of my daughters is a 2nd Lt. in USAF, and is scheduled to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan in June, 2010. One of my other daughters is a Peace Corp volunteer serving overseas right now, in a rural village as a teacher, where she's the only person there who knows how to use a chainsaw (yes, I taught all of my daughters how to play baseball, use power tools, and shoot).
Curious factoid: 75 percent of the population of the USA between the ages of 18 and 25 years are unqualified for service in the US Armed Forces. I guess that means that 25 percent of that age group is truly extraordinary, not the least so the small percentage who actually volunteer to support their country.
Let's all say "Thanks!" to them.
Wow, Bob. I had no idea. Very impressive background.
Thanks for your comment Bob, but there’s no need to school me on the sacrifices made by veterans and their families. I have relatives who were sent into battle that didn’t come home alive. My problem is not with the young men and women who fight, it's with the old men and women who pick the fights.
Say "Go." We go.
WW. FDR. HT. JFK. GWB. BHO.
I'm sure that's how the people here when Abe Lincoln was president felt.
Somebody has to.
Freemarket. You live behind a bulwark.
That doesn't really make sense, but whatever.
Freemarket, it doesn't make sense to you, because you just don't get it.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
Despite the polemics of Ayn Rand, who I agree with in principle, and von Mises, who I agree with completely, somebody is still protecting your ass. This is an integral part of the body politic.
Get it now?
As George Washington said,"We're going to cross a frozen river and kill you in your bedz on Christmas mornings." That is now known as something to do with Valley Forge. The U.S. Navy said, recently, to Somali pirates, "We'll shoot you in the head from the deck of a rolling ship on Easter Sunday morning."
Hmmm...I sense a pattern here.
I, myself, would rather just sit beneath my vine and my apple tree and have no one make me afraid.
Unfortunately, that's not the real world.
When can I get some of your organic honey?
Bob, what the hell are you talking about? Soldiers generally do not question the orders of political leaders, they do what they are told. If the Prez says to invade Canada, the troops will invade Canada. This means that the job of making sure the troops are used in a appropriate manner is up to the rest of us. Do you disagree with that? Because that is the only point I have made in this thread.
You seem to be arguing against something I never said and then telling me that I don’t get it.
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