An Afternoon with Jack

As I listen to and read the new media, both radio, TV, and the rag sheets, I'm amazed at the polarization in this nation caused by an ideology being rammed down the backbone of the American people by an undemocratic congress and a president whose ego is definitely not that of a statesman.

I recently thought of Jack, a college fraternity brother of mine. We played football together at SMU.

Jack was really too small for college ball at 5'6" and 145 pounds. The memory of a 230 pound linebacker that dropped Jack's small frame, still sends shudders through my mind. After the collision, Jack was the first player to rise and hurry back to the huddle. He had that grin stretched across his face. I remember asking Jack, "Why the grin?" He said, with a giggle, "I said to the linebacker, 'I hope I didn't hurt you.'"

That was Jack.

The afternoon was sunny, without a cloud in the sky, as I stood many years ago, gazing at the wall known as the Vietnam Memorial. On this, my first trip to Arlington National Cemetery, it occurred to me that the name carved in the cold granite wall was all the world would ever know of Jack. For you see, Jack was a Colonel flying a phantom jet over North Vietnam when on October 26, 1967, he simply vanished from the world. They never found a trace of the jet or his remains.

I remember when we were in college, Jack joined the Air Force ROTC, while my choice was the PLC program the Marine Corps offered to college students. By all odds, my name should have been on that wall, not Jack's.

As October approaches every year, I think of that name written with thousands of others on that Granite Wall. Would they be proud of the sacrifices they made for our freedom, or ashamed that our country is divided right, left, liberal, conservative? It is really strange that on the thousands of crosses, there is never a democratic or republican symbol written there - only their names, branch of service, date of death.

All Americans need to regroup with an attitude of country first, honoring our Constitution and Bill of Rights that define who we are as a people.

My wish for America is quite simple; it is for every member of Congress, to stand before that Granite wall and read the names written there; and realize that our divisions are minor, compared to the sacrifices of those whose names are on that wall.

*****
written by Tom Macon
special to The Jolly Rogers