Marc Alan Lee understood the cost and sacrifice that service defined. He single-handedly held off enemy fighters by creating an offensive diversion while his team rescued a wounded teammate from a rooftop. The firefight took place in Ramadi, Iraq August 2nd, 2006. Marc Alan Lee became the first Navy SEAL to die in Iraq.
“Glory is something that some men chase and others find themselves stumbling upon, not expecting it to find them. Either way it is a noble gesture that one finds bestowed upon them. My question is, when does glory fade away and become a wrongful crusade, or an unjustified means which consumes one completely?”
“I have seen war.”
“I have seen death, the sorrow that encompasses your entire being as a man breathes his last. I can only pray and hope that none of you will ever have to experience some of these things I have seen and felt here… .”
“I have seen hate towards a nation’s people who has sic never committed a wrong, except being born of a third world, ill-educated, and ignorant to western civilization. It is not everybody who feels this way, only a select few, but it brings questions to mind. Is it ok for one to consider themselves superior to another race?”
“Surprisingly, we are not a stranger to this sort of attitude. Meaning that in our own country, we discriminate against someone for what nationality they are, their education level, their social status. We distinguish our role models as multi-million-dollar sports heroes or talented actors and actresses who complain about not getting millions of dollars more than they are currently getting paid.”
“Our country is a great country. My point of this is how can we come over here and help a less than fortunate country without holding contempt or hate towards them, if we can’t do it in our country. I try to do my part over here, but the truth is over there, in the United States, I do nothing but take.”
“Ask yourself, when was the last time you donated clothes that you hadn’t worn out? When was the last time you paid for a random stranger’s cup of coffee, meal, or maybe even a tank of gas? When was the last time you helped a person with the groceries into or out of their car?”
Father, you are good; you are compassionate. Let me see your heart. Give me your compassion. Burden me with the cares of the least of these brothers of yours.
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:40)