a journey

It’s a green eye blond kind of day. The kind of day when snow is slowly melting away as nostalgia once escaped our journey home. The kind of day when a hero is trying to find his way home yet the crudeness of the road beneath his feet has transformed what was once the proud to now the humble.

6 am, a text message from a distance friend I have never met. A once and always Marine walking with only his determination and pride to see the people he had swore to defend.

The text message reads: “Beautiful hot, blond hair greens, wants to walk over the Golden Gate w/ me ☺ Semper Fidelis ”

This is Eddie Gray, and this is his story. It a green eye blond kind of day for Eddie, and it is the important part of his day to know that there is hope and those around him who shares his struggle with our nation’s identity. I wrote back to him while keeping one hand on the wheel; gas pedal to the floor trying to catch up to the speed limit in my small two-door Ford Ranger. I know Eddie only by his determination, and by his decision to walk around the country. I admire him only because I don’t have the will to walk with him, and I am simply settled into the comfort of my surroundings with a steady pay and a 20th century home that needs constant repair and reprieve.

Eddie is walking around the country, with no money nor any endorsements like so many others these days. He had once wrote to me and asked that I assist him in getting some recognition and assistance from The American Legion devoted to the wellbeing of our veterans. As a once and always Marine, he knows if anyone would understand it would be our leaders and our volunteers.

It is a green eye blond kind of day, and today Eddie is not alone. Today I learned that his is one of many, struggling to reach out and touch someone with the pride and purpose of his own fruition. Today, I am walking with him in spirit, and I am happy that he has company to cross the Golden Gate.

It’s a journey. A journey only a man can endure. Not heroes for they would let their ego get in the way of becoming part of the journey. How often we forget that heroic acts and memories of sacrifices only impede life’s fullest intent.

-jin