Originally published on May 25, 2009 – For Memorial Day
Art Fettig’s Monday Morning Memo
May 25, 2009
In This Issue
o A Letter To Max
o Say Something Good
o Visit Our Website
o Points To Ponder
o A Little Humor
o Quote of the Week
A Letter To Max © Art Fettig
Dear Max,
It’s Memorial Day and I’m thinking about Korea and about you, Max. You and those other G.I’s they carried off on liters from that damn, beat-up powder-topped hill we called Old Baldy. We were fighting so that the world would be safe for democracy. Maybe we did a lousy job of it Max, because people are still killing each other for the same reason.
Oh, I remember you Max. You didn’t talk much, but we spent every moment together, sitting in that stinkin’ bunker, through those long nights. We took turn on watch, putting our lives in each other’s hands for a couple of hours sleep.
Max, I remember how we went without food for two days because somebody screwed up in our supply lines. Finally, I got so disgusted that I crawled up to the Command Post. While I was there those rounds came in.
Later, when I went back to our bunker, I found you Max. You and that other guy I’d never known before. I guess he was just passing by when that barrage came in and he jumped into our hole and he met death there for me.
So I’m still here to remember you Max; you and that other guy and that beat up hill where we chose to meet the enemy and say, “Hold it! We’ve come to make this world safe for democracy.” They didn’t listen, Max, and they killed you.
Max, I’ve got the feeling that maybe we made that trip overseas in vain. That the place to make the world safe for democracy is right here and the time is right now. What we’ve really got to remember today is that war is hell and that death is real and what the world needs right now, Max, is love. Love and a lot more love. Not a lot of men running across oceans to make the world safe for democracy.
You didn’t say very much, Max, but I remember what you did say. It seemed pretty corny right then. You said, “Man must learn to love his fellow man.”
Max, it is finally beginning to make sense to me. Like you said, Max, Love is the answer.
Signed,
Your Buddy Art
Say Something Good
Memorial Day and I’m remembering a lot of friends and relatives that gave their lives for this country. Many of them served and then came home so messed up that they could not function in the normal world. May God bless all serving our nation at this time and all who have served. And may God Bless America.
Points To Ponder
Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. Lou Holtz
A Little Humor
Our company has a huge abacus under glass in case our computer breaks down.
Quote of the Week
The possibility of stepping into a higher plane is quite real for everyone. It requires no force or effort or sacrifice. It involves little more than changing our ideas about what is normal. Deepak Chopra