Flags of Our Fathers

A couple of weeks ago, I completed yet another long and winding trip back from Georgia where I spent my spring break with my parents. I had a wonderful relaxing time with the 'rents, their two dogs of whom I have grown especially fond, Guy and Gus, as well as the ol' Birman cats, Vandy and Webster. Fortunately, about a year ago, I decided to give audio books a try in an attempt to keep me as alert as possible on the roads. I've grown accustomed to making these long trips. After all, when I first moved to Texas, my parents still lived in Ohio, and they moved to Arizona in '03 before moving over to the Peach State just a few years ago. However, these trips can get rather dull when I'm the only one with opposable thumbs in the car (sometimes I take my cats, Jerry and Kosmo, but they're not very helpful when it comes to providing meaningful conversation). These audio books have really done the trick. A few times I've visited the Houston Public Library branch near my school, but their pickings are pretty slim. Last week I actually picked up a few good "reads" from Half Price Books but burned through those before it was time to head back Saturday. Lucky for me, my dad let me take his audio copy of Flags of Our Fathers for the trip back.



I had heard of the book and mini-series but had never taken the time to either read the work or watch the show. Granted, now after "reading" the book, I definitely want to see what HBO did with it. I was initially struck by the author's comments in his foreword at the beginning of the book. Only after his father passed away did he come to find out that his dad not only was one of the men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima, but he also was a highly decorated soldier during World War II. The author knew his dad was a veteran, but he just didn't realize how significant his dad's service had been. Sure, there were times when he tried to get information from Pops about what the war was like, but Dad had been reluctant to share anything. One thought with the author really resonated with me. He said he "needed" to know what happened to his dad, that his dad to some degree owed it to him to tell him about his experiences in the war. That's exactly how I felt for many years about my dad's involvement in the Vietnam War. Pops went to grad school at Vanderbilt on the GI Bill. When he finished his undergrad, he served three tours in 'Nam on two different ships, the USS Hollister and the USS Coral Sea as a gunner's mate.

Our fathers owed it to no one, not one person, to tell them the gory psychologically scarring details of their experiences. It took me a long, long time to realize that. Recently I've heard a military slogan that's stuck with me: "All gave some; some gave all." Rarely do any of us civilians witness the actual death of an acquaintance, but these men saw it all around them on a daily basis. They risked their lives day in and day out so we could enjoy the freedoms and way of life we just take for granted.

Spiritually, I find myself oh, so often confusing what I need for myself with what is best for me. I want things like personal happiness and professional happiness when I should be focused on just living my life in the way God wants me to. I put too much emphasis on what I need to do for myself rather than what I can do for others. I need to realize that only God truly knows what I need in my life and recognize that in order to find the peace and happiness I desire, I must turn my life completely over to Him and overcome the desires I have to pursue my own self-serving "needs."