Blog of Intellectual Capital

THE FORK – 

A Holocuast survivor encourages her soon to be wed granddaughter.

“We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny.  But what we put into it is ours”  Dag Hammarskjold

http://spiritclips.com/films/thefork

I put my carry-on in the

luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned

seat. It was going to be a long flight. ‘I’m

glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will

get a short nap,’ I thought.

Just before take-off,

a line of soldiers came down the aisle and

filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding

me. I decided to start a conversation.

‘Where are you headed?’ I asked the soldier seated nearest to

me. ‘Petawawa. We’ll be there for two

weeks for special training, and then we’re being

deployed to Afghanistan

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was

made that sack lunches were available for five

dollars… It would be several hours before we

reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch

would help pass the time…

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if

he planned to buy lunch.  ‘No, that seems

like a lot of money for just a sack lunch.

Probably wouldn’t be worth five bucks.

I’ll wait till we get to base.’

His friend agreed.

I looked around at the

other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked

to the back of the plane and handed the flight

attendant a fifty dollar bill.  ‘Take a

lunch to all those soldiers.’ She grabbed my

arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with

tears, she thanked me. ‘My son was a soldier in

Iraq ; it’s almost like you are doing it for

him.’

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the

soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and

asked, ‘Which do you like best – beef or

chicken?’ ‘Chicken,’ I replied,

wondering why she asked. She turned and went to

the front of plane, returning a minute later

with a dinner plate from first class.

‘This is your thanks.’

After we finished

eating, I went again to the back of the plane,

heading for the rest room.

A man stopped me. ‘I saw what you did. I want to

be part of it… Here, take this.’ He handed me

twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned

to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down

the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he

walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but

noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my

side of the plane. When he got to my row he

stopped, smiled, held out his hand and said, ‘I

want to shake your hand.’ Quickly unfastening my

seatbelt I stood and took the Captain’s hand.

With a booming voice he said, ‘I was a soldier

and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought

me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never

forgot.’ I was embarrassed when applause was

heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the

front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A

man who was seated about six rows in front of me

reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He

left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed I

gathered my belongings and started to deplane…

Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man

who stopped me, put something in my shirt

pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a

word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the

terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their

trip to the base.
I walked over to

them and handed them seventy-five dollars. ‘It

will take you some time to reach the base.

It will be about time for a sandwich.
God Bless You.’

Ten young

men left that flight feeling the love and

respect of their fellow travelers.

As I walked briskly to

my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe

return. These soldiers were giving their all for

our country. I could only give them a couple of

meals. It seemed so little…

A veteran is someone

who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank

check made payable to ‘The United States of

America   ‘ for an amount of ‘up to and

including my life.’

That is Honor, and

there are way too many people in this country

who no longer understand it.’

Happy July 4th weekend

Please watch, listen an be Proud.

May God Bless America, our Troops and on this day – always remember

“Freedom is NOT Free

Be healthy, travel safe and enjoy family

The Gerbs

WATCH: Marine Stuns Crowd at Tea Party

http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2010/06/07/watch-marine-stuns-crowd-tea-party

God Bless America

“The Star-Spangled Banner” is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from “Defence of Fort McHenry”,[1] a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

Lyrics

Cover of sheet music for “The Star-Spangled Banner”, transcribed for piano by Ch. Voss, Philadelphia: G. Andre & Co., 1862

O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
’Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust;”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!