PrintJuly 6, 2008
Show Your Gratitude
You're standing in line waiting for your flight to begin boarding as the arriving passengers debark. Suddenly one, two or perhaps a dozen or more military personnel come out off the plane and pass by you. You want to jump over there and shake their hands and tell them, "Thank you," but it just seems so awkward. You don't want to look like some grandstanding showboat.
Or you're sitting in a restaurant and a family group with a young uniformed warrior is shown to a table near you. You think, "I ought to get up and go over there and express my thanks but if everyone in here did that those poor folks would never get to eat their food."
It's a situation most of us have been faced with and most of us have shared the uncertainty of what is the best, least interruptive way of showing our young warriors our gratitude for their service. Well, Americans are the most creative, innovative people on earth and some very thoughtful American has come up with an excellent solution to this quandary:
It could not be simpler and it is a quiet, wonderfully unobtrusive way to demonstrate our solidarity with our armed forces and their mission. Even for those Democrats who are always loudly proclaiming they support the troops but not the mission (in the real life of the military, a ludicrous contention) it is a way to give a hand to those you think you support.
This is a practice all Americans literally should take to heart immediately.
