WELCOME HOME HEROES

            I don’t care what your political views are, but I hope that you pay tribute to every person that you know who serves in the armed forces.  I believe that putting your life in the midst of mortar fire and constant threats of attack is the ultimate sacrifice.  You make the freedom that is defined in the Constitution of the United States of America, a reality.  These brave men and women deserve our upmost appreciation. 

            Just this past weekend, I was at the airport waiting to board a flight back home from an EMT conference.  While sitting and watching the multitudes of people pass by my terminal, one man walked over and sat next to me.  He was a wearing a military uniform on is body and anxiety on his face.  It was clear to me that he was ready to go home.  He was a quiet man that sat patiently to board the plane while reading last month’s edition of Sky Mall and bobbing his head to the tunes on his iPod. 

            The Jet Blue employee announced that our plane was about to board and said that the first to board would be any military personnel on the flight today.  He stood up and the next thing that happened was miraculous; every single person in the surrounding terminals stood up and clapped, whistled and cheered.  People really do care about the individuals who serve and protect the people of this nation both domestic and abroad.

            So where am I going with this story? Well, the picture that goes with this blog post happens to be going viral on the internet.  It is of a marine who was greeted by the love of his life at his return to the United States.  I couldn’t help to think about how spectacular it is that after the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell soldiers can be greeted by their same sex partners and they have every freedom to display they affection upon return from overseas. 

            However, I was disgusted to read some of the comments that people have wrote about this on Facebook, which aren’t even worth repeating here.  I hope that when this country is in a time of war that its citizens do not question the integrity of our military by the sexual orientation of its personnel.  Anyone who has the courage to put themselves in harm’s way for the greater good of this nation deserves the respect of the citizens for their contribution.  Also, there is no need to judge same sex couples who have just been apart from each other for several months who hug and kiss.  They have every right to show the same amount of affection as a heterosexual couple.  These people have been thousands of miles apart from each other, counting down the days until the end of deployment and worrying about their loved ones every night.   They are people too.  I can't help to think that someday, this picture could replace the picture of the sailor kissing a nurse on V-J Day in Times Square.  Times are surely changing.