Today I made a difference!

Hey guys,

I hope you are doing well.

Today I decided to head down to the Rememberance Day Ceremony here in North Vancouver. I have always been intrigued by war and have great respect for those who fought and those who never made it back.

The ceremony was beautiful despite the pooring rain. It was great to see Veterans from all sorts of wars honored. I have always wanted to sit down with a Veteran and ask him what was was like and hear some of his stories but I have always been too shy to do so.

After the ceremony I hung around and looked at all of the names of soliders from North Van that have been killed. I looked to my right and saw some veterans in uniform with shiny medals talking to each other and to other people that just wanted to say thanks.

I saw one very old gentleman sitting down in his wheelchair. His chest was covered with medals and he was looking around but nobody seemed to want to talk to him. I really wanted to talk to a veteran of a big war. I just wanted to meet someone that has been through such an intense experience and still make it out the other side.

I walked up to the lonely looking veteran and said “wow…you have a lot of medals. Where are they from?” His face lit up and he started to go through the medals.

“This one is for landing in Normandy on D-Day” he said. I was shocked. This frail looking shy man had been one of the first men off of the boats into the biggest military operation ever launched in history. He had to run up the beach amidst an inferno of machine guy, mortar and tank fire while hearing and watching his friends dye beside him.

“This Medal is the victoria cross…awarded for outstanding bravery”. WOW. There are only a handful of men who got this medal while living. The reason being that it was only awarded when men did something so brave and so selfless that it usually gets them killed.

We talked for a good half an hour. I couldn’t help looking at his soft big blue eyes and thinking “I can’t believe those eyes saw war”.

After our half hour his son came and had to take him away because everyone was getting damp and cold. My new friend and I parted ways. I said “Thank you for serving for us and more importantly, thank you for your stories. I will never forget them and nor will I ever forget you.”

He smiled like crazy and then started crying happy tears. His son wheeled him away and as I walked away I started crying. This man I just met has been through so much. He is a hero more so than anyone I have ever met. He is braver than I will ever be. He sacrificed the prime years (19 – 24) of his life. Here I am at 24 chasing girls, trying to finish school and making money playing music….and when he was 24 he had already lost all of his friends, had seen so much and must have gone through so many strong emotions that we can’t even comprehend.

Being able to talk with a real living super hero made my day and the best part was that I made his week just by saying hello and listening to his stories.

While reflecting upon this morning I was reminded of what Tony said: “Life is not about how much money you have or the things you get. Life is about Love and sharing love”.

It feels sooooo good to spread the love!!!!