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#894172 added October 10, 2016 at 9:25pm
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In Memory of Oldwarrior

Take Two ▼

According to the daily email reminders I keep getting and subsequently deleting with vague promises of "getting around to it later," it has been 196 days since my last blog entry. Apparently the last thing I wrote was my final entry for last February's "The Soundtrack of Your Life"

... which also means that I've, rather embarrassingly, had a blog post titled "Dick In A Box" at the top of my blog feed for the better part of the 2016 calendar year.

Mostly, I just haven't been that inspired to write. I don't like to post blog entries unless I'm either participating in an activity or have something meaningful to say, and there's been precious little of either lately. But when iKïyå§ama

first posted "Note: Honoring [Link To User oldwarrior] I will gi...", I knew I found a reason to write about something again.

I'll admit that my initial intention was just to quickly read an item and post something so I could collect the Merit Badge being offered (I am, after all, an unabashed Merit Badge collector). But as I started to scan Oldwarrior

's port, it occurred to me that this the memory of someone's life here, and it deserves more than just a quick skim of one item. So instead I read through a considerable number of items in his port in an effort to get to know him better.

Over the years, Oldwarrior (Gene) and I crossed paths every so often... we'd each reviewed five of the other's written works... but I didn't know much about him. So you can imagine my surprise when even the quick blurb on the Bio tab of his portfolio revealed some pretty amazing things. He was retired military (Rangers AND an MP? Those are not easy specialties!), a former newspaper editor and investigative reporter, and an artist in more than one discipline. What most struck me was his military decorations: a Silver Star, four Bronze Stars, and three Purple Hearts? There are action heroes in novels that don't have that much hardware recognizing their heroism and valor. I mean, seriously, just look at this photo of Gene from his Bio:

Retirement photo of Oldwarrior - Old soldiers never die - they just fade away...

That's a lot of distinguished service!

My perusal of Gene's portfolio then brought me to "MY POLITICAL RAMBLINGS"

where I looked at his stance on the importance of the flag as a symbol ("Burn my Flag and I'll burn your behind!"

), our country's sometimes questionable foreign policy decisions ("MY COUNTRY-RIGHT OR WRONG!"

), the issue of "GUN-CONTROL"

, and a whole host of other issues in "DIRTY POLITICS"

. What I've learned from these writings is that Gene and I agreed on some things and had differences of opinions on others. I share his enthusiastic defense of our flag as a symbol of our country and those who fight for it, but disagree with his assertion that gun control is a cowardly agenda to disarm the public and make them easy targets or victims. I often find myself wondering, as he does, what the American public would really think of foreign policy decisions the government makes for which we only hear one (positive, optimistic) side of the issue. But I disagree with his assertions that criminals are not entitled to the same rights as law-abiding citizens, or that a country should solely focus on its own citizens before extending aid to foreign nations.

I have a feeling Gene and I would have had some really interesting conversations about these topics. His background was vastly different than my own, and we would have doubtlessly argued opposing positions on issues that we both feel passionate about. But the strength of his convictions, his eloquent argumentation, and his respectful presentation of his opinions leads me to believe that it would be a valuable discourse in an era when the art of intelligent discourse is being lost to entrenched positions and intolerant mindsets.

Next, I looked at "MY RELIGIOUS & SPIRITUAL ITEMS"

and was deeply moved by the honesty in recounting his struggles with PTSD and the faith he found that helped him navigate those troubled waters ("THE RUDDER"

). I followed his blending of spirituality and science and philosophy in "PROOF OF LIFE AFTER DEATH....?"

and then the metaphor for his religious journey in "JC IS MY CO-PILOT"

. Again, I was struck by the wisdom and intelligence and conviction of the words he wrote.

If there's one through-line to all the pieces I've read in his port for this exercise, it's been that Gene seemed to be a man of dignity and respect for others, strong convictions, and a wide variety of interests... and that's something the two of us share (or at least I like to think so). More than anything, this has made me realize just how much I wish I had taken the time to get to know Gene over these past several years when I had the chance. It's a missed opportunity that will likely be on my mind for a while.

My takeaway from all of this is twofold:

One, Gene was a remarkable, accomplished man who will be truly missed.

Two, I don't want to come across another one of these challenges and realize that I never really took the time to get to know the person while they were alive. Someone shouldn't have to die before we take the time to really get to know more about them.

Over the past couple of years, I've really struggled with my place here on WdC. I started showing up here to develop my writing ability and over the past thirteen years on the site gradually assumed more and more responsibilities running contests and groups and fundraisers and other activities. Somewhere along the line I think I burned myself out and I've been steadily maintaining a minimal presence ever since, looking for a way to get back into the larger community. Thanks to iKïyå§ama

and Oldwarrior

, maybe I've found a way. And maybe, rather than coming up with a new group or activity or way to raise a bunch of GPs for friends' causes, it's as simple as starting to get to know and connect with new people in the community, like I used to when I first started.

See you on the other side, Gene.

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