Wednesday's Hero

This Weeks Hero Was Submitted By
Mark Bell


LCpl. Nicholas J. Manoukian
22 years old from Lathrup, Michigan
1st Marines 6th Batallion 2nd Marine Division
Oct 21, 2006


Here
is a website that LCpl. Manoukian's mother set up for her son
after he lost his life in Ramadi.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that
others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am
proud to call them Hero.
It Is Foolish And Wrong To Mourn The Men
Who Died. Rather We Should Thank God That Such Men Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like
to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great
country, you can find out how by clicking href="http://rightwingrightminded.blogspot.com"

So, a man is doing his Saturday morning errands, drives to the Post Office and purchases a book of stamps. As he's placing the stamps on his many bills, and he's pondering the dwindling of his paycheck with the mailing of these checks, he notices something strange. His $.23 stamp looks funny. The 3 is backward.

'Ah, I bet they screwed up when they were making this batch.' He purchases another book, and immediately checks to see if the 3 is printed correctly. It is.

He carefully removes all of the misprinted stamps from his bills and replaces them with the stamps printed properly. He takes the other book of stamps home, and spends the next four hours on the internet researching these mis-printed stamps. He joins a few e-mail lists dedicated to stamp collecting, and waits. Everyday he searches the discussion threads to see if anyone else comes up with the same stamps.

A month later, he sees it. The title read 'misprinted stamps are recalled'. He opens the thread to learn that his precious book of stamps have been recalled, and the lucky few who may have received the stamps hold something priceless in their hands. The post office was able to recall all but 10 books of stamps. He also notices that there are collectors scrambling to find and purchase these stamps. They are offering upwards of $25,000 for these rare and precious stamps that very few people possess.

This scenario made me think of those hundreds of parents who find out that their precious child is going to be differnet. He or she isn't going to have exactly the same things as other children. Perhaps they won't ever learn how to read, learn how to run, ride a bike, walk on their own. Those children who God has decided to will into being are one in a million. In every other scenario in life, we accept these circumstances as indications of a particular blessing. Yet, when it comes to children, we want them to be like clones, like so many postage stamps that are printed out in uniformity. Yet, it is the particularity of every child that really makes the world beautiful, that brings to each family something that isn't exactly like other families.

SWF Seeking...

Reason #243 that I have never found someone to marry. I've never read the London Review of Books Personal Ads.

Here is just a sampling:

I'm just a girl who can't say "no" (or "anaesthetist"). Lisping Rodgers and Hammerstein fan, femaile lecturer in politics (37) would like to meet a man to age 40 for thome enthanted eveningth. Box 2498

Employed in publishing? Me too. Stay the hell away. Man on teh inside seeks woman on teh outside who likes milling around hospitals guessing the illnesses of outpatients. 30-35. box 3287.

Male LRB readers. Drawing little faces on your thumbs, getting them to order meals, then shouting at them for not being able to pay is no way to win a woman. You know who you are. Men to 40 wtih working credit cards, reply to once-bitten, twice-bitten, three-strikes-and-you're-all-out F, 35. Box no. 1379

Don't reply to this ad - its a fake. Just like the man who place it. Deny nothing, regret all, but live to fight another day with phoenoenologically ahamed, melanin-deprived, scion of the patriarchal ruling class. (32, Worcester). Box 7590.

Loaded tax exile Channel Islands resident seeks attractive well preserved soul mate. No objection to modest gold digger age around 25 below 40 a definite advantage. If you smoke it’s the garage. Tel 01481238667

My psychotherapist suggested I place this ad. Woman, 43. Not mental, despite whatever a fear of open spaces, the colour red, the sound of rain, plastic containers, beards, percussionists, birdsong and cornflakes may suggest Box no. 01/03

courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine February 2007.

Wednesday's Hero

Lt. Col. Michael E. McLaughlin
44 years old from Mercer, Pennsylvania
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army
National Guard
January 4, 2006


Sitting in the car with Lt. Col. Michael E. McLaughlin's 18-year-old
daughter, her father's friend of 21 years had just broken the news of his
death.

During years of friendship and service in the Pennsylvania Army
National Guard, Lt. Col. McLauglin and retired Capt. Brad Mifsud had a bond so
close that they promised each other if something were ever to happen to
either one of them, they would be there for the other's family.

Lt. Col. McLaughlin died when a suicide bomber rushed through a crowd
of Iraqi police recruits in Ramadi and detonated a bomb that also killed
a Marine and nearly 80 Iraqis. The day before the attack, Lt. Col.
McLaughlin said he was fully confident that Ramadi had finally turned a
corner in the insurgency. As hundreds of local men streamed into the
Ramadi Glass Factory on Wednesday to join the city’s long-defunct police
force, a wide grin spread over a pinch of tobacco stuffed into the
44-year-old’s lower lip.

"This may not look like much, but it's history," McLaughlin told a
reporter. "We're making history right here."

With a significant wound to the back of his head, Lt. Col. McLaughlin
turned to his injured personal security detail officers and inquired
about their well-being. Waving off medical attention, he asked them to
check on the soldiers under his command.

"In an act of extreme selflessness, he stated that he was OK, but to
concentrate on saving the lives of his men," said Col. Grey Berrier, a
close friend of Lt. Col. McLaughlin.

Lt. Col. McLaughlin died shortly after giving that instruction,
according to the Guard.

A long-time artillery officer in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard,
McLaughlin was assigned to Task Force 2-222 Field Artillery and was the
primary liaison between the 2-28 Brigade Combat Team and local tribal
and government leaders in Ramadi. His efforts were instrumental in
getting local sheikhs to support the recruitment drive and encourage more
than 1,000 area men to volunteer for the force, commanders said.

"Mike is a true hero in every sense of the word, and he died while
doing his job the only way he knew how - out front and with great
enthusiasm and courage," said Col. John L. Gronski, commander of the 2-28 BCT.
"This loss only strengthens our resolve to carry on and complete the
mission in order to honor his memory."

A gregarious wisecracker, McLaughlin said his hope was to one day
return to a peaceful Iraq, where he planned to walk the streets of Ramadi in
a traditional Arab "man dress," or dishdasha, and sip coffee and chai
with those sheikhs he had met during the war. McLaughlin said that one
particular tribal leader he had developed a close relationship with
dubbed him "The Sheikh of Sheikhs" - a nickname that was soon picked up by
fellow officers in the brigade.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that
others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am
proud to call them Hero.
It Is Foolish And Wrong To Mourn The Men
Who Died. Rather We Should Thank God That Such Men Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like
to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great
country, you can find out how by clicking here.

Why Does This Stuff Stick?

I had to bring the grill over to my parents house for a play0ff game barbecue. As I rolled the grilled through the dog yard, I noticed that only one kind of, ahem, "mud" was being picked up in the wheel. And I thought - after the week of rain that we've had, why do the wheels ONLY pick up dog dirt, and not the nice clean dirt that cleans easily.

Then, it reminded me of sin and immorality. Why does that seem to stick so much easier than virtue?

Remember when this was a novelty?

One of my favorite childhood memories was going to the Mall. It was almost an hour away, and there was only one within driving distance from us. We'd walk around all the shops, and get those few things that we really needed, and had waited to get until we could make the trip.

On the way home, we'd stop at McDonald's - which was always a huge treat. Then, Mom would take a different route home by the bay and we could see all the boats in the water. Sometimes we'd even see windsurfers out on the lake.

Its funny that McDonald's isn't considered a treat anymore. Its the thing you substitute for food when you're too busy for a real meal. I remember saving the fries for last, and wanting to be the last one who would finish so that it seems like I had more. AND, if you were lucky enough to get the ones at the bottom of the bag you had really made it.

I wish Mickey D's was more rare.