I initially started running because I saw my coworkers working out on Monday mornings after their 5k races on the weekend. I enjoyed the idea of benefiting a good cause and also got some fab items from it. Win win!
But as I developed my own running skills and ran my own races, it really matured to educate me about a lot of good causes. For example, when I ran my first Frogman 5K, I was certainly grateful for the cause – Operation 300 – but what was familiar and exciting to me before the race was running such a beautiful course on the beach.
However, the education and growth that the race gave me as a person was a turning point in my life. I usually thought of the military more abstractly—the heroes who made our nation free. But to see the memorial banners with the biographies of each soldier who died and to experience the extraordinary grief of the family of Navy SEAL Aaron Vaughn as they discuss their family members who died serving our country really taught me that each service member has a profound impact on each of us as citizens, but also on their loved ones.
I think it must be incredibly difficult for families not to have that defining moment of saying goodbye to someone they love. Not having a specific awareness of how that loved one was feeling emotionally or physically when they were so far away from home. There is guaranteed an exceptionally high degree of respect, but there is much uncertainty as to the personal nature of the passing of their loved ones.
I’m used to Memorial Day basically being defined as a three-day weekend, with an extra day off work. But this is not only a fraud to those who went to give you American freedom, but it is also a fraud to yourself. I think being aware of individual souls and their stories and the impact they have on their families and communities is important to increase your appreciation and respect for our everyday benefits.
I think it’s important to thank them for their service when you see them in person and recognize them, like when they’re wearing an identifying hat. I also think it’s important to realize that you can never outrun veterans because they gave their lives so you could be free. There is a kind soul that you will never meet in person. You just have a loved one whose heart is not whole because they are separated from their loved one through that loved one’s ultimate sacrifice for all of us. There’s an advance parking space available for you because there’s someone who’s dead who’ll never run into the store again.
Those who serve in the military are not some distant group of heroes who are not particularly related to you—their sacrifices are present in all elements of your daily life. Their sacrifice is present in the loved ones you meet. Their damage is always present in every single place you live or work. Their loss is always present in the freedoms we enjoy.
Your life is naturally influenced by the sacrifice of a person who served in the American military. Take a moment to think about this effect and its effect on your respect and gratitude. You got this!
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