Wow, health is something I often forget about as a blessing. Why? Because I have health.
Yes, I am afflicted with NDPH, and I have a few other issues which require daily medications, but I am able to live and enjoy life and am not constrained from doing the things I desire because of poor health or long term injury.
You should have seen Chris and me hauling the Snow Village boxes from the attic above the garage to the family room in the basement yesterday as we set up the 2011 version of our collection. And I look forward to getting back onto the racquetball court when my gym reopens this week. I can do whatever I desire to do.
I am blessed with good health. Not perfect health, but good health that allows me to do whatever I want whenever I want.
Health is a blessing. I have friends who are not so fortunate.
The real blessing of health is being able to do what I want to do and to help others while doing that.
Happy Thanksgiving, I am a richly Blessed man living in a land of plenty.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Giving Thanks - Home
Drive around our area and it is easy to notice the homeless sitting on some of the corners asking for assistance.
One of the blessings I realize that I have this season is the blessing of home.
I am sitting here looking outside at the dawning day enjoying the blue sky and rising sun. Most importantly, I am warm. It is 24 degrees outside this morning, but Chris and I are warm inside with a nice fire already crackling in the fireplace.
I am looking forward to being outside today doing work around the house, which is my home, but I woke in a warm bed, not in a group home or a tent. I am blessed and for that I give thanks.
Home, they say is where the heart is--but as well it can be place from which to base life. The safe place to which I return at the end of the day and from which I depart when I launch my day.
I look forward to home when I am not there.
Not in a sappy way--but in a peaceful, purposeful manner.
The real blessing of home is peace. A place to reflect, and plan, and to be safe.
Welcome home.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
One of the blessings I realize that I have this season is the blessing of home.
I am sitting here looking outside at the dawning day enjoying the blue sky and rising sun. Most importantly, I am warm. It is 24 degrees outside this morning, but Chris and I are warm inside with a nice fire already crackling in the fireplace.
I am looking forward to being outside today doing work around the house, which is my home, but I woke in a warm bed, not in a group home or a tent. I am blessed and for that I give thanks.
Home, they say is where the heart is--but as well it can be place from which to base life. The safe place to which I return at the end of the day and from which I depart when I launch my day.
I look forward to home when I am not there.
Not in a sappy way--but in a peaceful, purposeful manner.
The real blessing of home is peace. A place to reflect, and plan, and to be safe.
Welcome home.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Friday, November 18, 2011
Giving Thanks -- Job
The stories in the news are everywhere about rising unemployment and companies closing and laying people off.
The times are tough and real people are facing real job loss which strikes deep into the heart of people who want to take care of and to provide for themselves.
I read a very hurtful email the other day which was from the ultra conservative right which clearly suggested that America should no longer be a land of generosity and where the idea of collectively providing for those less fortunate should no longer be what sets us apart as a people and a society. This email seemed to suggest that we could close our borders and our doors and become and island in the world.
The email was so out far from the attitude that we should have a people of plenty and covered with uncountable blessings. I felt bad for the misguided people who perpetuate that thinking and who sent me the email.
It suspect that it is easy to write such hard ideas when safely tucked into a warm home writing from the comfort of a chair in front of a computer. The email suggested that more people in America are getting free stuff than are paying for the free stuff. I wonder if people receiving Social Security were counted in the percentages of those receiving free stuff, or those receiving retirements. It is harder to write such things when living on the street, homeless, cold and wet. Life has not been good to a lot of people. And they rely on us, the rest of us, for support.
I am thankful for having a job. I am thankful that God had placed me in a position where I believe I am making a difference and am doing something important. I am uniquely suited for the job I have, but at the same time I am able to keep perspective and realize that I work to live and not live to work. I love my free time away from the job to do the things that are there to enjoy outside of work. I have passed up taking positions which would seem to require working 60 or 70 hour weeks, because I enjoy life away from job and I do not want my job to become my identity.
But this Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for the blessing of freedom that my job gives me. Freedom to be creative and to write my blog everyday whether anyone reads it or not. Freedom to critically read the email that I receive and not be so hard that I follow every whim that someone would have me follow.
The blessing of having a job is freedom.
Give thanks.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
The times are tough and real people are facing real job loss which strikes deep into the heart of people who want to take care of and to provide for themselves.
I read a very hurtful email the other day which was from the ultra conservative right which clearly suggested that America should no longer be a land of generosity and where the idea of collectively providing for those less fortunate should no longer be what sets us apart as a people and a society. This email seemed to suggest that we could close our borders and our doors and become and island in the world.
The email was so out far from the attitude that we should have a people of plenty and covered with uncountable blessings. I felt bad for the misguided people who perpetuate that thinking and who sent me the email.
It suspect that it is easy to write such hard ideas when safely tucked into a warm home writing from the comfort of a chair in front of a computer. The email suggested that more people in America are getting free stuff than are paying for the free stuff. I wonder if people receiving Social Security were counted in the percentages of those receiving free stuff, or those receiving retirements. It is harder to write such things when living on the street, homeless, cold and wet. Life has not been good to a lot of people. And they rely on us, the rest of us, for support.
I am thankful for having a job. I am thankful that God had placed me in a position where I believe I am making a difference and am doing something important. I am uniquely suited for the job I have, but at the same time I am able to keep perspective and realize that I work to live and not live to work. I love my free time away from the job to do the things that are there to enjoy outside of work. I have passed up taking positions which would seem to require working 60 or 70 hour weeks, because I enjoy life away from job and I do not want my job to become my identity.
But this Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for the blessing of freedom that my job gives me. Freedom to be creative and to write my blog everyday whether anyone reads it or not. Freedom to critically read the email that I receive and not be so hard that I follow every whim that someone would have me follow.
The blessing of having a job is freedom.
Give thanks.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Giving Thanks - Friends
With Thanksgiving upon me in a short week from today, I am continuing my examination, albeit a bit superficial, of the blessings in my life.
Today I am writing a few thoughts about friends. When I began this process I had separated friends from family, but upon further consideration I realize that the true blessing of friends is that unlike family, I choose my friends and they choose me, too. And becuse of this, my friends have become family.
I am very blessed by my friends and I hope that I am likewise a blessing to them as wll. In all of my adult life, I have not had friends like I have now. I was too much of a vagabond gypsy moving around the country/world in the Air Force to take time to haave friends until more recentlys as I have settled in this place called Maryland.
Thnksgiving allows the opportunity to appreciate friends and the unique things we do together which continue to build deeper relationships.
Friends are the spice of life and they are there before I even know I need them for support. I have enoyed the weekend trips and the wine tastings and the dinners, and the just gathering together at the end of a tough week just to relax and be with one another in a non-threatening and even encouraging environment. And as friends, sometimes we realize that the most important part is just being together--whether we talk or not. Just for support of not being alone in tough timees.
At Thanksgiving this year, I am thankful for my friends--and the increase in my family they have become and will always be.
Thanks to each of you!
Today I am writing a few thoughts about friends. When I began this process I had separated friends from family, but upon further consideration I realize that the true blessing of friends is that unlike family, I choose my friends and they choose me, too. And becuse of this, my friends have become family.
I am very blessed by my friends and I hope that I am likewise a blessing to them as wll. In all of my adult life, I have not had friends like I have now. I was too much of a vagabond gypsy moving around the country/world in the Air Force to take time to haave friends until more recentlys as I have settled in this place called Maryland.
Thnksgiving allows the opportunity to appreciate friends and the unique things we do together which continue to build deeper relationships.
Friends are the spice of life and they are there before I even know I need them for support. I have enoyed the weekend trips and the wine tastings and the dinners, and the just gathering together at the end of a tough week just to relax and be with one another in a non-threatening and even encouraging environment. And as friends, sometimes we realize that the most important part is just being together--whether we talk or not. Just for support of not being alone in tough timees.
At Thanksgiving this year, I am thankful for my friends--and the increase in my family they have become and will always be.
Thanks to each of you!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Giving Thanks - Family
Thanksgiving is upon us. Next week.
I've been thinking about the blessings that I have received this past year--and for that matter during all of my life in an effort to better grasp how I take blessings for granted and despite my best efforts, I continue to receive blessings that I neither deserve nor have earned.
I have the usual list--family, friends, job, home, health, peace, pets, and love. And as the Apostle Paul would say, not the least of these is love.
But--I thought I might like to dig a bit deeper into each of these areas to discern the real blessings and not just the superficial, pass it off kind of acknowledgement that I usually do when confronted with truly deep issues.
Superficial is easy, and non-threatening. I have been thinking about some of these blessings and I have come to realize that they are not superficial. It is I who am superficial in so many things that I do. I am afraid to engage and to offer the best of myself to the situation.
Family. I have the best family in the world. They put up with me even when I would rather be somewhere else. (Like Key West) I love them. I wonder whether I deserve them. But, Sundays around the TV watching four different football games reminds me that we are a family and we are all better because of it.
But family is more than watching football games together. Family is the way we look out for each other and overlook our shortcomings to find the inner beauty in each of us. It is the unconditional smile of a grandson (since I haven't any granddaughters, it is OK to write it this way) when I arrive or when we communicate via the new Facetime technology. Family is saying, we've got your dog when we head out for a long weekend.
Family supports when one of us is down and thrives when we are all together. And family is larger than just the cluster of people living in Maryland--but it includes far flung brothers and sisters and parents and cousins and nieces and nephews scattered across America.
And I am stronger because of all of them. We get together all too infrequently.
But they are a blessing and I am thankful for them.
What is the real blessing of family?
The real blessing of family is that I never fear being alone in this world. In family, I have others with whom I am walking beside, or leading, or walking behind--but joined arm-in-arm as we make our way through the world. Although we are not all walking the same path, we are walking together, and we are stronger for it.
I am not alone--there are others with whom I can share my joys and sorrows, successes and failures, and just sit together sipping a glass of wine or a beer and enoy being--even if we are not talking, we are.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
I've been thinking about the blessings that I have received this past year--and for that matter during all of my life in an effort to better grasp how I take blessings for granted and despite my best efforts, I continue to receive blessings that I neither deserve nor have earned.
I have the usual list--family, friends, job, home, health, peace, pets, and love. And as the Apostle Paul would say, not the least of these is love.
But--I thought I might like to dig a bit deeper into each of these areas to discern the real blessings and not just the superficial, pass it off kind of acknowledgement that I usually do when confronted with truly deep issues.
Superficial is easy, and non-threatening. I have been thinking about some of these blessings and I have come to realize that they are not superficial. It is I who am superficial in so many things that I do. I am afraid to engage and to offer the best of myself to the situation.
Family. I have the best family in the world. They put up with me even when I would rather be somewhere else. (Like Key West) I love them. I wonder whether I deserve them. But, Sundays around the TV watching four different football games reminds me that we are a family and we are all better because of it.
But family is more than watching football games together. Family is the way we look out for each other and overlook our shortcomings to find the inner beauty in each of us. It is the unconditional smile of a grandson (since I haven't any granddaughters, it is OK to write it this way) when I arrive or when we communicate via the new Facetime technology. Family is saying, we've got your dog when we head out for a long weekend.
Family supports when one of us is down and thrives when we are all together. And family is larger than just the cluster of people living in Maryland--but it includes far flung brothers and sisters and parents and cousins and nieces and nephews scattered across America.
And I am stronger because of all of them. We get together all too infrequently.
But they are a blessing and I am thankful for them.
What is the real blessing of family?
The real blessing of family is that I never fear being alone in this world. In family, I have others with whom I am walking beside, or leading, or walking behind--but joined arm-in-arm as we make our way through the world. Although we are not all walking the same path, we are walking together, and we are stronger for it.
I am not alone--there are others with whom I can share my joys and sorrows, successes and failures, and just sit together sipping a glass of wine or a beer and enoy being--even if we are not talking, we are.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Time Is?
What is time?
I think of time as a well-defined measurement that I use to measure events and the interval between significnt occurrences in my life.
A while ago, I was involved in a radical discussion the about time. It was fascinating to think about something that while we spend a great deal of effort defining, but something we really do not understand.
Is there really time? Or is time a creation of man to help measure the days until we die?
Animals do not concern themselves with time-maybe because they do not understand that one day they will die. And so they live day to day without fear of their impending death.
God does not seem concerned with time to the degree that we people are concerned. We measure time to the nanoseconds. God moves within time in terms of eras and ages and millennia.
So, why am I so worried about time? Is it because each passing second reminds us me that I am that much closer to dying? But then dying is really not death, but only an address change. And in eternity I will not be concerned with time--I think that is why it is so hard for me to conceive of heaven because I think an eternity is such a long period of time, when in fact if there is no time, eternity just is.
I found the following on one website:
"There is considerable misunderstanding in society concerning the nature of time. Time simply is; it cannot do anything. Time provides the historical framework in which things happen, but time has no innate ability itself. To express the same thought in different words: time is quantitative, not qualitative. This is a most important distinction with several implications."
Is time constant? No. I can readily see how time ebbs and flows in my own live. Although I believe time to be constant, I think about periods when I am fully absorbed--time passes and I hardly notice it. Yet, when waiting for something to happen--like departing for a trip, time crawls.
A few months ago I blogged about nearly being in a traffic accident and how time slowed allowing me to act and react to each new event in the scene--and ultimately avoid the car that turned in front of me.
The answer to time-fright is to enjoy each day to the fullest. Enjoy each sunrise and sunset and each moonrise and set.
Yes, I look at my watch waiting for time to pass--but if there were really no time, what would I do to measure the progression of events? Perhaps, I would be free. I would be finished when the project was complete and I could depart when I am ready rather than waiting for the clock to announce quitting time.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
I think of time as a well-defined measurement that I use to measure events and the interval between significnt occurrences in my life.
A while ago, I was involved in a radical discussion the about time. It was fascinating to think about something that while we spend a great deal of effort defining, but something we really do not understand.
Is there really time? Or is time a creation of man to help measure the days until we die?
Animals do not concern themselves with time-maybe because they do not understand that one day they will die. And so they live day to day without fear of their impending death.
God does not seem concerned with time to the degree that we people are concerned. We measure time to the nanoseconds. God moves within time in terms of eras and ages and millennia.
So, why am I so worried about time? Is it because each passing second reminds us me that I am that much closer to dying? But then dying is really not death, but only an address change. And in eternity I will not be concerned with time--I think that is why it is so hard for me to conceive of heaven because I think an eternity is such a long period of time, when in fact if there is no time, eternity just is.
I found the following on one website:
"There is considerable misunderstanding in society concerning the nature of time. Time simply is; it cannot do anything. Time provides the historical framework in which things happen, but time has no innate ability itself. To express the same thought in different words: time is quantitative, not qualitative. This is a most important distinction with several implications."
Is time constant? No. I can readily see how time ebbs and flows in my own live. Although I believe time to be constant, I think about periods when I am fully absorbed--time passes and I hardly notice it. Yet, when waiting for something to happen--like departing for a trip, time crawls.
A few months ago I blogged about nearly being in a traffic accident and how time slowed allowing me to act and react to each new event in the scene--and ultimately avoid the car that turned in front of me.
The answer to time-fright is to enjoy each day to the fullest. Enjoy each sunrise and sunset and each moonrise and set.
Yes, I look at my watch waiting for time to pass--but if there were really no time, what would I do to measure the progression of events? Perhaps, I would be free. I would be finished when the project was complete and I could depart when I am ready rather than waiting for the clock to announce quitting time.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Monday, November 14, 2011
Monday Musings - November 14, 20111
1. This is the in between week. That is, it is the week in between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. It may be the last sane week of the year.
2. I was shocked, this past weekend, when I visited the gravesite of a veteran and noticed that local veterans groups had not placed flags on the graves of all of the veterans buried in the cemetary. I bought a flag and took it back to mark the resting place of a hero.
3. It was a very different weekend in Ithaca. Varied in the people I met and the activities I participated in. I changed a door lock, visited, stood beside a grave after finding it covered with leaves, attended a memorial service, participated in a wine tasting, fumed at traffic, enjoyed the natural beauty of the Ithaca area, watched fire trucks responding to a horrific house fire that destroyed a big house in Danby, shopped (in Lowes), ate out three times, laughed at the antics of two small kittens, and watched more college football in a single weekend than I have in a long time.
4. Now is not a good time to invest in Euros!
5. Did you know the that the most recent Russian attempt to send a probe to Mars may come crashing back to Earth in January?
6. I had forgotten, but we have been having problems with Iran since 1979, when they stormed our embassy in Tehran and took 63 Americans hostage. It doesn't look to end anytime soon.
7. Have you noticed that airline prices are very high in comparison to recent times?
8. It looks as if the only country in the world with an active, reliable manned space program, that would be Russia, launched an American to the International Space Station this morning.
9. Oh yes--and did you notice that the Ravens are the most inconsistent team in Pro Football? They lose to teams with losing records and win against teams with winning records.
2. I was shocked, this past weekend, when I visited the gravesite of a veteran and noticed that local veterans groups had not placed flags on the graves of all of the veterans buried in the cemetary. I bought a flag and took it back to mark the resting place of a hero.
3. It was a very different weekend in Ithaca. Varied in the people I met and the activities I participated in. I changed a door lock, visited, stood beside a grave after finding it covered with leaves, attended a memorial service, participated in a wine tasting, fumed at traffic, enjoyed the natural beauty of the Ithaca area, watched fire trucks responding to a horrific house fire that destroyed a big house in Danby, shopped (in Lowes), ate out three times, laughed at the antics of two small kittens, and watched more college football in a single weekend than I have in a long time.
4. Now is not a good time to invest in Euros!
5. Did you know the that the most recent Russian attempt to send a probe to Mars may come crashing back to Earth in January?
6. I had forgotten, but we have been having problems with Iran since 1979, when they stormed our embassy in Tehran and took 63 Americans hostage. It doesn't look to end anytime soon.
7. Have you noticed that airline prices are very high in comparison to recent times?
8. It looks as if the only country in the world with an active, reliable manned space program, that would be Russia, launched an American to the International Space Station this morning.
9. Oh yes--and did you notice that the Ravens are the most inconsistent team in Pro Football? They lose to teams with losing records and win against teams with winning records.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Weekend Images to Remember
It has been a long holiday weekend. The images of the weekend are varied.
We stumbled into a wine tasting at a local wine store on Thursday evening which really improved our spirits. It is always fun to find wines and take a moment from life to enjoy the fruit if the vine with others who also enjoy a good glass of wine. It is amazing how we never seem to find repeats in the wines we taste--the store carried no wines that were familiar to us in Maryland. That of course, makes it all the more exciting to try and find new wines to enjoy. I am so glad that wines are so diverse.
Autumn is in the final stages here. The leaves have left the branches of the trees and found their way to the ground where the wind is whipping them into ever increasing piles and filling the low spaces. I remembered that we needed to be careful when walking on uneven ground because the leaves may be covering a depression and a turned ankle could result from carelessness.
And finally, so what did you do on Saturday afternoon? This kitten was making all of her own entertainment in and around the container. Her sister, not pictured, was not too far away partaking in equally creative entertainment.
It has been a weekend of varied activity--and a weekend to remember. These images obviously did not capture it all, but will help to document a small part of it.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Autumn is in the final stages here. The leaves have left the branches of the trees and found their way to the ground where the wind is whipping them into ever increasing piles and filling the low spaces. I remembered that we needed to be careful when walking on uneven ground because the leaves may be covering a depression and a turned ankle could result from carelessness.
And finally, so what did you do on Saturday afternoon? This kitten was making all of her own entertainment in and around the container. Her sister, not pictured, was not too far away partaking in equally creative entertainment.
It has been a weekend of varied activity--and a weekend to remember. These images obviously did not capture it all, but will help to document a small part of it.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Ithaca, NY - Traffic Constipation
Ithaca is a crazy place. Home of the greatest population of tree huggers known to exist and a city dedicated to the idea that another non-synchronized traffic light to foster continual traffic jams is just what is needed to improve quality of life.
I have to admit, I do not recall ever driving in a place with more difficult traffic. I have driven in much larger cities and not seen such confused traffic patterns. And add to that, a train decided to drive through town at the height of rush hour the other evening which totally shut down some of the main roads through town. I was in a traffic mess of Baltimore proportions.
Ugh! Can't they do better than that?
Ithaca is not that large, in terms of people. In terms of ego though, it plays way above its weight class. Ithaca has a popultion of jut over 30,000 and the region has a popultion of about 101,000. And it is not served by a connecting four-lane highway from anywhere. Amazing.
I did search for this cities not served by a four-lane highway, but could only find big cities not served by an interstate--and Fresno, CA, is the largest of those.
And so my rant about Ithaca continues. Traffic always has been and likely will continue to be one of the most opprressive things about the area. As I drove down one of the hils last evening into Ithaca I saw ribbons of taillights, similar to I-95 at rushhour, stretching from one end of the city to the other. Not moving. Fortunately, I was able to take some side streets nd avoid most of the mess, but that kind of oppressive traffic does not belong in a place with as much natural beauty as Ithaca.
Millions of dollars have been spent to fix the problem. A limited access, elevated, four-lane bypass is really needed.
That aside--the beauty of the hills and Cayuga Lake filling the valley are world class.
But the traffic is totally frustrating.
I have to admit, I do not recall ever driving in a place with more difficult traffic. I have driven in much larger cities and not seen such confused traffic patterns. And add to that, a train decided to drive through town at the height of rush hour the other evening which totally shut down some of the main roads through town. I was in a traffic mess of Baltimore proportions.
Ugh! Can't they do better than that?
Ithaca is not that large, in terms of people. In terms of ego though, it plays way above its weight class. Ithaca has a popultion of jut over 30,000 and the region has a popultion of about 101,000. And it is not served by a connecting four-lane highway from anywhere. Amazing.
I did search for this cities not served by a four-lane highway, but could only find big cities not served by an interstate--and Fresno, CA, is the largest of those.
And so my rant about Ithaca continues. Traffic always has been and likely will continue to be one of the most opprressive things about the area. As I drove down one of the hils last evening into Ithaca I saw ribbons of taillights, similar to I-95 at rushhour, stretching from one end of the city to the other. Not moving. Fortunately, I was able to take some side streets nd avoid most of the mess, but that kind of oppressive traffic does not belong in a place with as much natural beauty as Ithaca.
Millions of dollars have been spent to fix the problem. A limited access, elevated, four-lane bypass is really needed.
That aside--the beauty of the hills and Cayuga Lake filling the valley are world class.
But the traffic is totally frustrating.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Veterans Day - 2011
The History of Veterans Day
November 11, 2011
Veterans Day falls on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas man named Alvin King, the owner of a shoe repair shop, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954. For more information, including educational materials, visit VA's Veterans Day webpage, VA's History of Veterans Day, the Military.com Veterans Day site , the History.com website, and the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Day webpage.
My Thoughts
There are forces in our Congress right now who want to minimize the sacrifices made by not only our veterans, but their families. Reducing benefits for veterans--those who selflessly answered the call of our nation, is the wrong approach.
We owe our veterans a debt that, for some of them, can never be repaid--those who have given the best of themselves--the best of their lives and their health.
So today--let's devote ourselves to remembering our nation's heroes, our veterans, and to continuing to honor their sacrifices by not reducing the benefits that they and their families are owed.
They answered the call when we could not or would not.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
November 11, 2011
Veterans Day falls on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas man named Alvin King, the owner of a shoe repair shop, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954. For more information, including educational materials, visit VA's Veterans Day webpage, VA's History of Veterans Day, the Military.com Veterans Day site , the History.com website, and the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Day webpage.
My Thoughts
There are forces in our Congress right now who want to minimize the sacrifices made by not only our veterans, but their families. Reducing benefits for veterans--those who selflessly answered the call of our nation, is the wrong approach.
We owe our veterans a debt that, for some of them, can never be repaid--those who have given the best of themselves--the best of their lives and their health.
So today--let's devote ourselves to remembering our nation's heroes, our veterans, and to continuing to honor their sacrifices by not reducing the benefits that they and their families are owed.
They answered the call when we could not or would not.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
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