Learning a lesson

Many times, the lessons we learn are not all in textbooks

Today, I was heading back to our office at lunch time...I was walking across the area that is in between our villa and the offices....

I had a bag of sodas for the guards. On a regular basis, I bring cold water/sodas with me for the security gurds as it is hot ( today it was 112 F in the shade) and they stand out in the heat all day, keeping us safe.

There was a young man (age 11-12) walking by heading home from school.  He spoke great english and he asked me for a soda, seeing that I had a bag full of them.

I said sure and gave him a soda.

He asked for another with a big smile - I said why ?? 

He said " For my brother "

So I asked him - " Where's your brother??" as he was alone - I gave him a kidding and asked him " Is he in your back pack??"

He looked at me and said, " At home...." - I asked him if he really had a brother at home and he said he did.

So I gave him two sodas......he was smiling like you wouldn't believe. He was so happy over something so easy for me to do - sharing sodas that are plentiful for us, and likely not as easy for him to get on a regular basis.

 This was another one of the encounters I have had here in Afghanistan that demonstrate why we are here.  Here was a young man from Kandahar and an Old Seabee like me, meeting for a few minutes, sharing friendship and being able to share a laugh and a smile.


As it was written, " And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Since you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." - Matthew 25:40

The reason

Like the man said, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Many have asked, " Why are we in Afghanistan ???  Why would we want to be there ??? What good could come from being there??"

The enclosed picture answers those questions and a hundred like it.
 
These two kids were on the street area between our villa and the office area. They were playing in the street like kids their age do everywhere.  I gave them cold bottles of water as it was very hot today in Kandahar, reaching 106 degrees.

My heart went out to these two kids - two young lives in a country where the news is usually bad and life is taken for granted.

In March 2012, Sgt. Dennis Weichel Jr, 29-year-old Providence National Guardsman was struck and killed by an armored vehicle on March 22 in Laghman Province after moving an Afghan boy to safety who was trying to retrieve something underneath the vehicle.  He knew the reason why we are here....He freely gave his life for that same reason. He was remembered by his fellow soldiers for having the "courage of a warrior" and the "heart of a father."

These children are the reason why we are here as they (and thousands like them) are Afghanistan's future.