“And You Deserve My Service”

My wife Carol and I visited FDR’s library last week. It is well worth the drive to New York’s Hudson River Valley. During our travels, we stopped at a deli for lunch. A couple of regular customers came in behind us. The well-worn landscaping t-shirts identified their occupation. One of the workers looked to be around 70 years old. I came to that conclusion because he was wearing a Marine Vietnam Veteran’s cap. I thought that was hard work to be doing at 70.

After lunch we left at the same time. I thanked the Marine for his service, and he said something that I’d never heard before. He looked me in the eye, as Marines do, and said, “Thank you, and you deserve my service.” I was saying thank you because I am aware of the sacrifices veterans made on my behalf. Having a veteran, and most likely a combat veteran, tell me that I am worthy and deserving of his service, his sacrifice, his lost friends, and probably his PTSD, is humbling to be sure. Profoundly grateful, I am still hearing his reply, “and you deserve my service.”

His words had a greater impact when we visited FDR’s Library. The presidential library had many exhibits depicting both the sacrifice and violence of WWII. Seeing those images, the sense of gratitude grew, as did the profound humility. Later that week, as we walked through an old cemetery, the words, “and you deserve my service,” lingered as I read the names on the veterans’ headstones.

I didn’t have a conversation with that Marine, but I wish I could have asked him why he thought I deserved his service. I suspect the answer would come from the Marines motto, Sempre Fi – Always Faithful. I pray that as I live my life of faith, Christ will find me always faithful, and those people I come into contact with, especially the least among us, will receive and deserve my service.