(Pounded out in a coffee-fueled haze at the Hilltop Grille Broad Street, Athens, on 29 January.)
There are several very compelling circumstances supporting my decision to attend the University of Georgia, which is a choice I have given very serious consideration.
I am from Dalton, and my Georgia roots go back five generations. There’s no question that I will have ties in this state for the rest of my life, and I’m very proud of that fact. Amazingly, despite the size of my extended family, none of my relatives have ever attended the University of Georgia. That fact alone stands out in my mind as both a challenge and a forceful source of motivation to successfully continue my academic career in Athens.
My mother was seventeen when her father died of a heart attack in 1972. Harley Chance was a well-respected businessman and father, and worked his entire life to build a future for his entire family. Shortly after his funeral, his doctor, a lifelong friend, spoke to my mother – one of nine surviving children – in private. Out of respect for my grandfather, he offered to pay all expenses for her to attend the University of Georgia, including medical school. She declined his offer, and although she has since accomplished much in her lifetime to be proud of - including multiple degrees - I know she has wondered how different her life could have been if she’d attended the University of Georgia.
Yet again, I have been provided another very powerful inspiration to succeed specifically at the University of Georgia.
As a career Marine, I have put in countless hours bettering myself as an individual and a leader. My years in the Marine Corps have been colorful, enlightening, and at times exceptionally challenging. I have always recognized the need to continue pursuit of higher education, yet I put it off time and again for one reason or another. Most recently, I’ve been somewhat preoccupied assisting in the execution of the Global War on Terror.
I now have the opportunity of a lifetime: through the benefit of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, I will be able to attend the University of Georgia full-time to complete my undergraduate studies while continuing my military career in the Marine Corps Reserve. When I graduate, it will vastly expand my career opportunities – and that’s if I choose to continue my military service. The opportunities I will have outside the military are boundless.
The fact that I have both the time and means available to me right now to attend UGA and keep my military career moving forward is like a dream come true for me. I have no illusions about the amount of effort required for me to succeed as a student here. It will be tiring, thankless, and at times very painful. Success under those conditions is nothing new to me, and I look forward to the challenge.
In my mind and in my heart, there is no other choice for me than the University of Georgia.
Quotation of the moment: "Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb." - Sir Winston Churchill
Song of the moment: "Bros Hymn", Pennywise
2009-01-29
2009-01-20
A New Day
So I watched the Presidential Inauguration today, and it got me thinking.
I cannot imagine - I mean, I can empathize, maybe even sympathize, but not actually know - what today truly meant to the black community. During the run-up to the election, the fact that Obama is a black man never really played much in how I viewed him or the race for the Presidency. I was far more concerned with his experience, proposed policies, and most of all his (poor) choice of Vice President.
Today, though - especially coming on the heels of yesterday's holiday observance - I really couldn't help but give it some thought.
While he gave his speech on television, I looked carefully at the huddled masses of humanity stretching from the steps of the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial and beyond, braced against the wind and cold... yet silent and attentive to every word. I saw the faces of regular, everyday people who can remember what it was like living in America during the peak years of the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. People who wouldn't have been able to ride the same bus or drink from the same water fountain as "white folks". People who weren't allowed until the 1940s to serve their country willingly by putting on a uniform and going overseas during a time of war, as I have... unless it was to be a ship's steward or Admiral's messman. Many millions of these people have raised children to adulthood, bought homes, and generally worked their asses off every day for decades in order to accomplish their dreams. In a great measure, they've been able to succeed - even if it's no more than having food on the table, a roof over their heads, a family they can be proud of, and a few bucks in their pocket at the end of the day. In my book, that's doing damn well by anyone's standards.
Today, though, meant something more to them. What I've taken for granted for years, they witnessed today with their own eyes: the highest office in government, and one of the most powerful and prestigious in the world, is now held ably by a black man. And rightly, justly so.
I've never been one to feel obligated somehow by the ignorance and mistakes of the past; to feel like I owe a debt to blacks or anyone else who has been discriminated against for hundreds - HUNDREDS - of years by whites in America. Outraged, certainly. Embarrassed, even. I do, however, like to think that I'm trying now, in every way I can, to disregard what has happened in centuries past (while being yet mindful of it) and at the same time move forward by doing my part to ensure it never happens again. I give my best efforts daily to be fair, firm, and honest in my dealings everyone I meet. I will teach those who emulate me - children someday, if that's in the cards - to do the same. I will, short of raising my hand against someone (though goddamn, that's tempting sometimes!) do all I can to demand that this same standard be met and enforced by my peers, seniors and subordinates.
When I think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I like to think that he would be pleased with that mindset coming from an average white boy from Georgia nowadays. His legacy needs no explanation, his accomplishments speak for themselves, true enough... but for any of us to not take time at LEAST once a year to pause and remember what he worked so hard for his entire life would be doing a disservice to ourselves and our nation. Equality for all Americans, fair dealings with everyone in this nation and abroad, a government that does not discriminate, and the perseverance, fortitude and courage to take a stand for it all without violence - these were his greatest dreams and hopes for all Americans.
We got a step closer today when Obama became the 44th President of the United States. I'm not sure anyone could script a more fitting day than today to remember Dr. King and his teachings. This struggle is by no means over, and we as a nation have much to identify and address strictly on the issue of racism. I do admit, though - and I honestly did not see this coming - that I can appreciate how much more it means to those faces I saw on TV today. I am thrilled and proud that every American could see this happen today... and there's still no way for me to fully comprehend how much more special and thrilling it is for black people in this nation and around the world to see Obama in office.
As with most defining, crucial aspects of life and philosophy, I think of it in terms I can take to heart. Let's face it, folks: at the end of the day, it always comes back to the military with me. So let's take a moment, shall we?
Tuskegee Airmen. Montford Point Marines. The Red Ball Express. Buffalo Soldiers.
These are men that I will always respect, admire, and look up to for their selfless service... moreso because of all they had to overcome simply to serve their nation, even at great peril to themselves in most instances. All of these men fought through more bullshit than I can even imagine, some simply to lay down their very lives for their brothers and their nation.
I might not have a clue what it's like to be a black man in America today who lived through just the last forty of fifty years of struggle and outright discrimination. But I GET what these soldiers, airmen, sailors, and Marines have done for this nation, and the sacrifices they've made. I'm eternally grateful for each and every one of them, because I stand today on the shoulders of these giants among men, carrying on a tradition of martial service as best I can.
God knows how much hard work Obama has in front of him. Everything else aside, I fervently hope the man is up to the task, and will someday become one of those same giants that every American will be proud of for all time.
I feel in my heart that we as a nation deserve it.
Quotations of the day - think like a Marine before reading:
"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."
- both from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I cannot imagine - I mean, I can empathize, maybe even sympathize, but not actually know - what today truly meant to the black community. During the run-up to the election, the fact that Obama is a black man never really played much in how I viewed him or the race for the Presidency. I was far more concerned with his experience, proposed policies, and most of all his (poor) choice of Vice President.
Today, though - especially coming on the heels of yesterday's holiday observance - I really couldn't help but give it some thought.
While he gave his speech on television, I looked carefully at the huddled masses of humanity stretching from the steps of the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial and beyond, braced against the wind and cold... yet silent and attentive to every word. I saw the faces of regular, everyday people who can remember what it was like living in America during the peak years of the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. People who wouldn't have been able to ride the same bus or drink from the same water fountain as "white folks". People who weren't allowed until the 1940s to serve their country willingly by putting on a uniform and going overseas during a time of war, as I have... unless it was to be a ship's steward or Admiral's messman. Many millions of these people have raised children to adulthood, bought homes, and generally worked their asses off every day for decades in order to accomplish their dreams. In a great measure, they've been able to succeed - even if it's no more than having food on the table, a roof over their heads, a family they can be proud of, and a few bucks in their pocket at the end of the day. In my book, that's doing damn well by anyone's standards.
Today, though, meant something more to them. What I've taken for granted for years, they witnessed today with their own eyes: the highest office in government, and one of the most powerful and prestigious in the world, is now held ably by a black man. And rightly, justly so.
I've never been one to feel obligated somehow by the ignorance and mistakes of the past; to feel like I owe a debt to blacks or anyone else who has been discriminated against for hundreds - HUNDREDS - of years by whites in America. Outraged, certainly. Embarrassed, even. I do, however, like to think that I'm trying now, in every way I can, to disregard what has happened in centuries past (while being yet mindful of it) and at the same time move forward by doing my part to ensure it never happens again. I give my best efforts daily to be fair, firm, and honest in my dealings everyone I meet. I will teach those who emulate me - children someday, if that's in the cards - to do the same. I will, short of raising my hand against someone (though goddamn, that's tempting sometimes!) do all I can to demand that this same standard be met and enforced by my peers, seniors and subordinates.
When I think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I like to think that he would be pleased with that mindset coming from an average white boy from Georgia nowadays. His legacy needs no explanation, his accomplishments speak for themselves, true enough... but for any of us to not take time at LEAST once a year to pause and remember what he worked so hard for his entire life would be doing a disservice to ourselves and our nation. Equality for all Americans, fair dealings with everyone in this nation and abroad, a government that does not discriminate, and the perseverance, fortitude and courage to take a stand for it all without violence - these were his greatest dreams and hopes for all Americans.
We got a step closer today when Obama became the 44th President of the United States. I'm not sure anyone could script a more fitting day than today to remember Dr. King and his teachings. This struggle is by no means over, and we as a nation have much to identify and address strictly on the issue of racism. I do admit, though - and I honestly did not see this coming - that I can appreciate how much more it means to those faces I saw on TV today. I am thrilled and proud that every American could see this happen today... and there's still no way for me to fully comprehend how much more special and thrilling it is for black people in this nation and around the world to see Obama in office.
As with most defining, crucial aspects of life and philosophy, I think of it in terms I can take to heart. Let's face it, folks: at the end of the day, it always comes back to the military with me. So let's take a moment, shall we?
Tuskegee Airmen. Montford Point Marines. The Red Ball Express. Buffalo Soldiers.
These are men that I will always respect, admire, and look up to for their selfless service... moreso because of all they had to overcome simply to serve their nation, even at great peril to themselves in most instances. All of these men fought through more bullshit than I can even imagine, some simply to lay down their very lives for their brothers and their nation.
I might not have a clue what it's like to be a black man in America today who lived through just the last forty of fifty years of struggle and outright discrimination. But I GET what these soldiers, airmen, sailors, and Marines have done for this nation, and the sacrifices they've made. I'm eternally grateful for each and every one of them, because I stand today on the shoulders of these giants among men, carrying on a tradition of martial service as best I can.
God knows how much hard work Obama has in front of him. Everything else aside, I fervently hope the man is up to the task, and will someday become one of those same giants that every American will be proud of for all time.
I feel in my heart that we as a nation deserve it.
Quotations of the day - think like a Marine before reading:
"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."
- both from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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