A Vietnam solider and a 14 year old girl …
I had to take two buses to high
school so I had to get up very early each morning to do so … this was a problem
I did not like getting up early... Many times I would miss the first bus I needed
to take…. Wow my mother would be ticked off at me…. She was already at work and
could not drive me to school so she would have to call me a cab … sweet ride
for me, I did not have to get off one
bus then on to another in the cold and rain.. .
Now I could play the I overslept game
just so many times before it became a real issue for my parents … on one such
day that I overslept for school... My mother said “this is the last time” going
on to say … she called a cab for me but I would have to share it with another
person… I was way too late for school to wait for another cab … when I go into
the cab, the driver said he had to pick up another passenger on the way to my high school …
Soon the cab was slowing down and the
driver was pulling curbside to pick up his passenger.. I was sitting in the
back of the cab and the car door on the right side opened and there he was … the
most handsome guy, I had ever seen in my whole 14 year old life!!!! If I were a cartoon character my heart would
have been beating out of chest with my eyes bugging out… I fell in love
instantly …
Now this handsome dude was probably
about 18 years old and he was in uniform... he looked at me and smiled and I
melted and in an instant I had mentally planned my wedding to this guy … Then
he spoke and asked me my name and for a second, I could not think of my name…
so he told me his and told me he was leaving for Vietnam …
For the most part it was a silent
ride to my high school... I was too shy to say anything to this young solider …
but I was memorizing his face and his name so I would not forget who he was …
his ever so handsome face and gorgeous smile …
watched as the cab drove away and
strangely I missed him … from my heart I missed him … this young soldier who I
only just met and was in his company for maybe 20 minutes … yet I was sad …deeply
sad to watch him drive away … that entire day all I could do was think about him
… over the next several months.. I became distracted with other things as most
14 year olds do…
In my City there were many young men going
off to the Vietnam and many of them coming home in a coffin…. It just was a
fact of life back then…..
These guys were just drafted and had to go….. The generations
behind me do not get that concept of being drafted into war, they never lived through
it … they would think the draft was like the Hunger Games books and movies… it
was the heart breaking game for those families who lost loved ones …
Even at age 14, I was aware of the soldiers
who had been killed in Vietnam from our area … sometimes I would even read
their obituaries … so sad …
Then one day I heard of another local
soldier’s death in Vietnam and I decided to read the newspaper to see who he was
… and there he was ….. The most handsome
guy I had ever seen with the most gorgeous smile….. Pictured with the caption “killed
in Vietnam”…
I can still see him in my mind’s eye as I saw
him over 50 years ago in that cab … so very sad to have a life cut so short …
so sad for every soldier who had their lives cut short … I hated the Vietnam
War after that and I attended anti- war protests in college … for that war took
the most handsome face and gorgeous smile off of this planet …
The saddest thing was when I read his
obit and it stated … casket will be closed… … He had stepped on a land mine … and
I thought prior to stepping on that land mine he stepped into my life and left
his foot print on my heart …
Life is such a puzzle … laced with
sad pieces and joyful ones … I do not believe people come into your life randomly....…
They are all send by God and they all leave an imprint on you and you on them …
yet some haunt you … some linger in your mind … as if to suggest they could
have been “a road not taken” in life … yet even in that if one has faith and
trust in God they are on the correct road … on a path, with an unseen hand guiding
them …
God is not a God of chaos nor a God of “mistakes”. Even when we do so…even
when we think we made poor choices this does not mean God was not there and
correcting them or using them…and our journey is in God’s plan and there are no
surprises with God…. He is constantly aware …
Don’t linger in the “what if’s in
life” be in the now, for at this very second you are making a difference in the
life of someone whether you know it or not… … you are in the plan of God just
where you are and you are his instrument … you are His joy and you are His love
on this planet …
So
why did I think of this story to post … for I heard the song posted here
yesterday and it brought me back to the most handsome face and gorgeous smile
of a young man, whose life was cut short … I will remember him always … and
I know in my heart of hearts one day, I will see his face again to let him know ... he made a difference in my life ... he made me think about what is lost in a time of war ... yet I think he already knows for when he stood before God on his passing, God told him how his life was used for the Glory of God and how many people's lives he touched ...
