True Measure of Wealth
Light of the Lowcountry by Jim Crotty
Originally uploaded by jimcrotty.com.
“One man with courage makes a majority.”
- Andrew Jackson
No, I probably will never “hit it big” with my photography, but at least I’m doing something with the talent given me. I also have a few accomplishments that no amount of money can buy, nor can be taken away.
One is the title of United States Marine.
As the recruiting slogan goes, “earned, never given.”
There was a time when I almost had my pride and respect as a Marine stripped away by a few people who had nothing but resentment, jealousy and greed.
Almost.
They got their grins and giggles and tons of money, but they didn’t get me, and most of all, they didn’t destroy the Marine within.
Just about an hour ago I watched two Mormon Missionaries pedaling up Far Hills Avenue in Centerville. I feel for them. It takes a lot of guts and fortitude for these 18 year-olds to go out on these two year missions almost completely on their own, facing just about everything society can throw at them. There was a time when I was a bit hard and critical on the LDS, back when I was an outsider living in Salt Lake City. As I get older I’ve come to appreciate their resiliency and courage, not to mention the fact that I now know what true blacklisting is since I’ve returned to Dayton.
Like those Missionaries there are thousands of other young 18 and 19 year-olds who every year break the bonds of security and the comforts of home and place themselves on airplanes, headed into that great equalizer called basic training.
It’s a humbling experience, to say the least. Everything is stripped away, quite literally, and they are each built back up to something new, something stronger, something more confident. Sometimes it doesn’t work, and recruits are shipped back home. That was my worst fear. Somehow I made it through.
It takes guts to take a chance, step out into a challenge and see if you have what it takes. It’s definitely not the easy way through life, but nothing truly worthwhile (and valuable) ever is easy, familiar, secure or comfortable.
I think it is time to challenge myself, again.
